Van Geet Opening: Laroche Gambit
1. Nc3 b5
The Van Geet Opening: Laroche Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. Nc3 b5. It is a line of the Van Geet Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 48 times by this move order. White won 54%, 8% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 2. Nxb5 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.81 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 2. Nxb5 d5 3. Nf3 c6 4. Nc3 Nf6)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/8/1p6/8/2N5/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. Nc3 b5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 28 | |
| 1500-1999 | 14 | |
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 48 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Nxb5 | 30 (63%) | |
| 2. d4 | 6 (13%) | |
| 2. Nf3 | 5 (10%) | |
| 2. e4 | 4 (8%) | |
| 2. b3 | 2 (4%) | |
| 2. a4 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 50%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- FM Maksym Dubnevych (2255) – GM Luca Jr Moroni (2552) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Feb Late · 2025-02-18
- IM Tologontegin, S. (2347) – FM Alessio Boraso (2273) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 28th May Early · 2024-05-28
- FM Al Tarbosh, W. (2281) – CM Volen Dyulgerov (2200) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Nov Early · 2023-11-28
- IM Jay Bonin (2137) – CM Rafal Zgadzaj (1999) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 27th Aug Early · 2024-08-27
Search all games of the Van Geet Opening: Laroche Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- diego_corrales (2529) – waytoimproveresident (2426) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- GLogozar (2235) – Pichon80 (2229) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- koreshh (2223) – AdriGre (2199) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Van Geet Opening 1. Nc3
More Van Geet Opening lines (all)
- Van Geet Opening: Battambang Variation A00
- Van Geet Opening: Billockus-Johansen Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Damhaug Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Dougherty Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Dunst-Perrenet Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Düsseldorf Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Gladbacher Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hector Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hergert Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hulsemann Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Jendrossek Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Kluever Gambit A00
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.