Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit, Classical Variation
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nf3
The Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit, Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B01, reached after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nf3. It is a line of the Scandinavian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 788 times by this move order. White won 47%, 3% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4… Qxd5 (75% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.36 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… Bxf3 5. Qxf3 Qxd5 6. Nd2 Nbd7 7. Qxd5)
- ECO
- B01
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3P4/3P2b1/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 2 4- PGN
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 39 | |
| 1500-1999 | 494 | |
| 2000+ | 255 | |
| All | 788 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Qxd5 | 594 (75%) | |
| 4… Nxd5 | 116 (15%) | |
| 4… Bxf3 | 48 (6%) | |
| 4… e6 | 10 (1%) | |
| 4… c6 | 10 (1%) | |
| 4… Bf5 | 5 (1%) | |
| 4… h5 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Nbd7 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
512 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 20%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Yangyi Yu (2759) – GM Rongguang Ye (2461) 1-0 · ch-CHN Rapid 2018 · 2018-06-06
- GM Yifan Hou (2629) – GM Anna Muzychuk (2566) 0-1 · SportAccord Blitz Women 2013 · 2013-12-16
- GM Kirill Shevchenko (2592) – IM Nikolas Theodorou (2554) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Junior Speed Q · 2020-09-09
- GM Alexandr Fier (2564) – GM Yasser Quesada Perez (2568) 1/2-1/2 · Online Olym Top DivD 2021 · 2021-09-10
- GM Anton Demchenko (2611) – GM Darwin Laylo (2500) 1-0 · Philippine Int Open 2014 · 2014-12-07
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CM Mimma (2519) – Albaber1991 (2759) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- sindrom_69 (2580) – GolfeDuMorbihan (2680) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2593) – ALBING0 (2551) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4
More Scandinavian Defense lines (all)
- Scandinavian Defense (1. e4 d5) B01
- Scandinavian Defense (1… d5 2. b3) B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Collijn Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Goteborg System B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Orthodox Attack B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Boehnke Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Bronstein Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Classical Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Grünfeld Variation B01
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.