Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Cunningham Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 Be7
The Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Cunningham Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C25, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 Be7. It is a line of the Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 257 times by this move order. White won 48%, 3% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 5. d4 (48% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.07 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. d3 Na5 7. Bxf4 O-O)
- ECO
- C25
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/ppppbppp/2n5/8/4Pp2/2N2N2/PPPP2PP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3 Be7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 49 | |
| 1500-1999 | 176 | |
| 2000+ | 32 | |
| All | 257 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. d4 | 124 (48%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 62 (24%) | |
| 5. h4 | 24 (9%) | |
| 5. Bb5 | 11 (4%) | |
| 5. Ne2 | 7 (3%) | |
| 5. d3 | 6 (2%) | |
| 5. Qe2 | 6 (2%) | |
| 5. e5 | 6 (2%) |
Master games
8 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 75%, draw 0%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- CM Evgenij Novikov (2276) – FM Yasin Sari (2323) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Nov Late · 2024-11-12
- FM Dmitry Pushkarev (2368) – WFM Shubhi Gupta (1943) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Nov Early · 2024-11-05
- WFM Regina Narva (1905) – FM Pavel Miroshnichenko (2239) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 16th June · 2020-06-16
- WFM Regina Narva (1901) – WFM Annika Froewis (2143) 1-0 · Women's Speed Chess Q3 · 2021-05-30
- FM Ruslan Sezdbekov (2203) – Baiaman Temirbekov (1813) 1-0 · ch-KGZ 2026 · 2026-05-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Spieler_Krsk (2396) – SahOnline221164 (2374) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- criollitex (2361) – Nastro99 (2350) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Fidel0829 (2273) – arlexpantoja (2300) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Knight Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
More Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense lines (all)
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit, Alapin Variation C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit, Thorold Variation C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Hamppe-Muzio Gambit C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Pierce Gambit C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Quelle Gambit C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Steinitz Gambit C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Steinitz Gambit, Fraser-Minckwitz Defense C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Steinitz Gambit, Main Line C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Steinitz Gambit, Paulsen Defense C25
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Steinitz Gambit, Sörensen Defense C25
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.