Modern Defense: Norwegian Defense, Norwegian Gambit
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. Be2 d6
The Modern Defense: Norwegian Defense, Norwegian Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B06, reached after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. Be2 d6. It is a line of the Modern Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 50 times by this move order. White won 44%, 6% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bxh5 (78% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.89 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. f4 Ng7 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. c3 Bxf3)
- ECO
- B06
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pp1p/3p2p1/4P2n/3P4/8/PPP1BPPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. e5 Nh5 4. Be2 d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 16 | |
| 2000+ | 28 | |
| All | 50 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bxh5 | 39 (78%) | |
| 5. exd6 | 5 (10%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 4 (8%) | |
| 5. f4 | 2 (4%) |
Master games
115 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 17%, Black 53%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2819) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) 0-1 · 7th Norway Blitz 2019 · 2019-06-03
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2786) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2732) 0-1 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2017-07-02
- GM Peter Leko (2731) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2714) 1/2-1/2 · Tal Memorial Blitz 2014 · 2014-11-14
- GM Dragan Solak (2632) – GM Richard Rapport (2704) 0-1 · TCh-SRB Premier 2014 · 2014-09-09
- GM S.P. Sethuraman (2644) – GM B. Adhiban (2659) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 15th Sept · 2020-09-15
Search all games of the Modern Defense: Norwegian Defense, Norwegian Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- cruz59 (2572) – icdat (2393) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Espeon2 (2397) – ChessMalamute (2495) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- lemra64 (2395) – lynus_kho (2427) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Modern Defense: Norwegian Defense 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Nf6
More Modern Defense lines (all)
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Polish Variation A04
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Pterodactyl Variation A04
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Pterodactyl Variation Accepted A04
- Modern Defense: Beefeater Variation A40
- Modern Defense: Lizard Defense, Pirc-Diemer Gambit A40
- Modern Defense (3. Nc3 d6) A41
- Modern Defense: Neo-Modern Defense A41
- Modern Defense: Averbakh System A42
- Modern Defense: Averbakh Variation, Pseudo-Sämisch A42
- Modern Defense: Kotov Variation A42
- Modern Defense: Randspringer Variation A42
- Modern Defense (1. e4 g6) B06
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.