Nimzowitsch Defense: Hornung Gambit
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3
The Nimzowitsch Defense: Hornung Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3. It is a line of the Nimzowitsch Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10 times by this move order. White won 70%, 0% were drawn and Black won 30%. The most popular continuation is 3… dxe4 (80% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.34 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 3… dxe4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. a3 e6 6. Qd2)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/ppp1pppp/2n5/3p4/3PP3/4B3/PPP2PPP/RN1QKBNR b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Be3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… dxe4 | 8 (80%) | |
| 3… e6 | 1 (10%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 1 (10%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- Christian Chopin (1603) – Stephane Burgnies (2170) 0-1 · 5th LUCOPEN 2014 · 2014-04-30
Search all games of the Nimzowitsch Defense: Hornung Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- jrivelli1993 (2435) – great_nezhmetdinov2 (2537) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- damilola-king (1894) – marcesalas1988 (1911) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- deadman3030 (1910) – Tomi55 (1686) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5
More Nimzowitsch Defense lines (all)
- Nimzowitsch Defense (1. e4 Nc6) B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense (1… Nc6 2. d4) B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Breyer Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit Accepted B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Declined Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, El Columpio Gambit B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Exchange Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Pin Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Franco-Nimzowitsch Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: French Connection B00
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.