King's Pawn Game: Tayler Opening, Inverted Hanham
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2 Nf6 4. d3 d5 5. Nbd2
The King's Pawn Game: Tayler Opening, Inverted Hanham is a chess opening classified as ECO C44, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2 Nf6 4. d3 d5 5. Nbd2. It is a line of the King's Pawn Game. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 34 times by this move order. White won 44%, 9% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 5… dxe4 (24% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.16 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5… Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1)
- ECO
- C44
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n2n2/3pp3/4P3/3P1N2/PPPNBPPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2 Nf6 4. d3 d5 5. Nbd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7 | |
| 1500-1999 | 13 | |
| 2000+ | 14 | |
| All | 34 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… dxe4 | 8 (24%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 7 (21%) | |
| 5… d4 | 6 (18%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 5 (15%) | |
| 5… Bd6 | 2 (6%) | |
| 5… Be6 | 2 (6%) | |
| 5… Bg4 | 2 (6%) | |
| 5… Bb4 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
123 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 27%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2761) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2808) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-24
- GM Baadur Jobava (2717) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2844) 1/2-1/2 · Tashkent FIDE GP 2014 · 2014-10-22
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2737) – GM So, W. (2780) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2018 · 2018-11-30
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2737) – GM So, W. (2780) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2018 · 2018-11-30
- GM Levon Aronian (2737) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2771) 0-1 · Saint Louis Blitz 2025 · 2025-08-14
Search all games of the King's Pawn Game: Tayler Opening, Inverted Hanham and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cherry-cake-fun (2354) – user00705 (2498) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- PDA81 (2334) – AaronGT24 (2400) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- LhakpaLa (2314) – SpaghettiFortress (2392) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Pawn Game: Tayler Opening (2… Nc6 3. Be2) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2
More King's Pawn Game lines (all)
- King's Pawn Game (1. e4) B00
- King's Pawn Game: Maróczy Defense B07
- King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) C20
- King's Pawn Game: Alapin Opening C20
- King's Pawn Game: Bavarian Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: Beyer Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: Clam Variation, King's Gambit Reversed C20
- King's Pawn Game: Clam Variation, Radisch Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening (1… e5 2. f3) C20
- King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening (2… Nf6 3. Nc3) C20
- King's Pawn Game: Leonardis Variation C20
- King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack C20
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.