Owen Defense: Naselwaus Gambit
1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bg5
The Owen Defense: Naselwaus Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bg5. It is a line of the Owen Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 41 times by this move order. White won 63%, 5% were drawn and Black won 32%. The most popular continuation is 3… Bxe4 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.23 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 3… Bxe4 4. d5 c6 5. d6 h6 6. Bh4)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pbpppppp/1p6/6B1/3PP3/8/PPP2PPP/RN1QKBNR b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5 | |
| 1500-1999 | 25 | |
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 41 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Bxe4 | 15 (37%) | |
| 3… h6 | 11 (27%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 5 (12%) | |
| 3… g6 | 3 (7%) | |
| 3… e6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 3… f6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 3… d6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 3… d5 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
22 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 9%, Black 64%). The strongest:
- IM Ashot Nadanian (2279) – GM V Pranav (2545) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Feb Early · 2023-02-21
- IM Eric Rosen (2356) – GM Simon K Williams (2467) 1-0 · MrDodgy Inv 3 GpA · 2022-11-25
- FM Dawid Janaszak (2334) – GM Aman Hambleton (2454) 0-1 · Titled Tue 10th May Early · 2022-05-10
- IM Eric Rosen (2361) – IM Jose Camacho Collados (2370) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Mar Early · 2024-03-12
- FM Dawid Janaszak (2348) – FM Slaven Pastar (2324) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 2nd Mar · 2021-03-02
Search all games of the Owen Defense: Naselwaus Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- great_nezhmetdinov2 (2566) – IM mmsanchezchess (2737) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- FM HaraldEtuna (2253) – Ludvig-Carlsson (2605) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Kaissiber (2386) – losergambler (2426) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Owen Defense 1. e4 b6
More Owen Defense 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.