King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack, Norwalde Gambit

1. e4 e5 2. c3 d5 3. Qh5 Bd6

The King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack, Norwalde Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C20, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. c3 d5 3. Qh5 Bd6. It is a line of the King's Pawn Game. White is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: −0.71 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 4. d3 Nf6 5. Qd1 O-O 6. Nd2 Re8)

ECO

C20

Moves

6 plies

FEN

rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/3b4/3pp2Q/4P3/2P5/PP1P1PPP/RNB1KBNR w KQkq - 2 4

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. c3 d5 3. Qh5 Bd6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.