King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5

The King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C20, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5. It is a line of the King's Pawn Game. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 79,410 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nc6 (46% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.25 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 2… d6 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qd1 Bg7 5. Nf3)

ECO: C20
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p2Q/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1KBNR b KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	69,578	50%46%
1500-1999	9,486	51%45%
2000+	346	58%38%
All	79,410	50%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nc6	36,242 (46%)	48%49%
2… Nf6 Wayward Queen Attack, Kiddie Countergambit	13,725 (17%)	46%50%
2… Qf6	8,445 (11%)	48%46%
2… d6	8,198 (10%)	52%44%
2… g6	5,208 (7%)	75%21%
2… Qe7	3,289 (4%)	46%48%
2… Bc5	1,444 (2%)	56%39%
2… Nh6	731 (1%)	58%37%

Master games

249 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 11%, Black 44%). The strongest:

GM Magnus Carlsen (2882) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2763) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2019 · 2019-08-13
GM Richard Rapport (2763) – GM Nihal Sarin (2650) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-12-02
GM B. Adhiban (2655) – GM Ivan Cheparinov (2710) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-29
GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2687) – GM Rinat Jumabayev (2637) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 30th Mar · 2021-03-30
GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – IM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2480) 0-1 · World Rapid 2018 · 2018-12-26

Search all games of the King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

kasparik_garik (2626) – malosize (2727) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
TheorySpeedrun (2660) – Mallorca10Barcelona (2671) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
kasparik_garik (2662) – openinglab100 (2663) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) 1. e4 e5

Continuations

King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack, Kiddie Countergambit C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nf6
King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack, Mellon Gambit C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nh6 4. d3 g6 5. Qf3 f6 6. Ne2 d5

More King's Pawn Game lines (all)

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.