Tarrasch Defense: Schara Gambit
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4
The Tarrasch Defense: Schara Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO D32, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4. It is a line of the Tarrasch Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 444 times by this move order. White won 44%, 8% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 5. Qxd4 (74% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.45 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxd4 exd5 7. Qxd5 Nf6)
- ECO
- D32
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/4p3/3P4/3p4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 28 | |
| 1500-1999 | 163 | |
| 2000+ | 253 | |
| All | 444 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Qxd4 | 328 (74%) | |
| 5. Qa4+ | 95 (21%) | |
| 5. dxe6 | 11 (2%) | |
| 5. Nb5 | 4 (1%) | |
| 5. Ne4 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5. e3 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5. Nb1 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,232 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 19%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) – Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-29
- Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-28
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2766) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-13
- GM Garry Kasparov (2812) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2778) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz Croatia 2021 · 2021-07-10
- GM Quang Liem Le (2709) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) 1/2-1/2 · Airthings Masters KO 2022 · 2022-02-23
Search all games of the Tarrasch Defense: Schara Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NM Andrey11976 (2790) – Minarque (2727) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- anhbutk (2672) – IM filolog (2692) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- tankista2345 (2645) – bata_njaa (2704) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Tarrasch Defense 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5
Continuations
- Tarrasch Defense: von Hennig Gambit D32 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qd1 exd5 7. Qxd5 Be6
More Tarrasch Defense lines (all)
- Tarrasch Defense: Grünfeld Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Marshall Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation (5. Nf3 Nc6) D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation (6. cxd5 exd5) D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Tarrasch Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Two Knights Variation D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Dubov Tarrasch D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Prague Variation D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Rubinstein System D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation, Central Break D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Wagner Variation D33
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.