King's Gambit Declined:Falkbeer Countergambit

Named after the Austrian master Ernst Falkbeer. Black answers White’s gambit with a pawn sacrifice of his own, 2...d5.

It is reached after 4 moves: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined.

White is to move and has 31 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,335,508 different games. Those games reach 429,645 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.1 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 21 further lines after this position, such as Falkbeer Countergambit Accepted (3. exd5) and Milner-Barry Variation (3. Nc3).

The same moves can be played in 4 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. f4 e5 2. e4 d5, which starts as the Bird Opening.