Vienna Game

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3

The Vienna Game is a chess opening classified as ECO C25, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 226,432 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nc6 (37% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 2… Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4)

ECO: C25
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4P3/2N5/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	115,467	51%45%
1500-1999	97,918	51%45%
2000+	13,047	50%44%
All	226,432	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nc6 Max Lange Defense	84,263 (37%)	50%46%
2… Nf6 Falkbeer Variation	66,393 (29%)	52%44%
2… d6	23,105 (10%)	50%45%
2… Bc5 Anderssen Defense	21,129 (9%)	50%47%
2… Bb4	8,768 (4%)	51%45%
2… c6	8,312 (4%)	52%44%
2… f5	2,678 (1%)	50%46%
2… Qf6	2,641 (1%)	52%44%

Master games

451 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 53%, draw 14%, Black 33%). The strongest:

GM Rauf Mamedov (2650) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2710) 1-0 · IMSA Blitz 2016 · 2016-02-29
GM Vahap Sanal (2601) – GM Kirill Shevchenko (2655) 1-0 · World Blitz 2021 · 2021-12-29
GM Grigoriy Oparin (2675) – IM Thomas Beerdsen (2521) 0-1 · Titled Tue 27th Dec Late · 2022-12-27
GM Aram Hakobyan (2616) – GM Luca Jr Moroni (2571) 0-1 · Titled Tue 26th Sep Late · 2023-09-26
GM Vahap Sanal (2567) – GM Vitalii Kiselev (2519) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th Jan Early · 2024-01-16

Search all games of the Vienna Game and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2888) – NM Andrey11976 (2795) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
kuhmft (2858) – Superstitions_Guy (2770) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
IM Jamorris94 (2791) – Superstitions_Guy (2800) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) 1. e4 e5

Continuations

Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5
Vienna Game: Falkbeer Variation C26 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6
Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6
Vienna Game: Omaha Gambit C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4
Vienna Game: Zhuravlev Countergambit C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Qg4 Nf6

More Vienna Game 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.