Italian Game:Blackburne-Kostić Gambit

Also called the Blackburne Shilling Gambit: Joseph Henry Blackburne is said to have used it to win shillings from amateurs. After the greedy 4. Nxe5? Qg5 Black’s attack comes fast.

It is reached after 6 moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4. It is a line of the Italian Game.

White is to move and has 31 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,086,452 different games. Those games reach 375,851 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 2.9 on average.

No later position on this line has a name of its own in the Lichess opening list: the names end here.

The same moves can be played in 9 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. Nf3 e5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4, which starts as the Zukertort Opening.