Owen Defense: Smith Gambit
1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nf3
The Owen Defense: Smith Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nf3. 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 943 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 3… Bxe4 (43% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.59 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 3… Bxe4 4. d5 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pbpppppp/1p6/8/3PP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 480 | |
| 1500-1999 | 436 | |
| 2000+ | 27 | |
| All | 943 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Bxe4 | 406 (43%) | |
| 3… e6 | 257 (27%) | |
| 3… g6 | 127 (13%) | |
| 3… d6 | 51 (5%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 41 (4%) | |
| 3… d5 | 21 (2%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 10 (1%) | |
| 3… a6 | 7 (1%) |
Master games
13 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 16%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- GM Federico Perez Ponsa (2538) – FM Aleksa Petrovic (2248) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th Jan Early · 2024-01-09
- GM Klementy Sychev (2572) – FM Al Tarbosh, W. (2189) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 9th Mar · 2021-03-09
- GM Yury Piskov (2442) – FM Yvain Bruned (2286) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Mar Early · 2023-03-07
- IM Shyam, N. (2424) – Iyer Akash Pc (2304) 1-0 · 2nd Gurgaon Open 2014 · 2014-01-04
- WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (2313) – IM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (2389) 0-1 · Titled Tue 31st Jan Early · 2023-01-31
Search all games of the Owen Defense: Smith Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Chumuluka (2274) – buhbuh (2259) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- nordebrink (2263) – dede-sla-arg (2201) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Bafragaz99 (2150) – Finda2 (2260) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 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.