This position comes from the King's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Defence, after 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nc6. It was reached in 6,713 rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess from June 2024 to September 2026, with White to move, and 350 times White played 3.fxe5. Stockfish 18, checking it again at depth 18, calls fxe5 a mistake.
What would you play? Open the position to analyse it before you read on.
How often players fall for it
By the players' average rating, the share of games where White played each move, and the score it got (a draw counts as half):
- under 800, 53 games: 3.fxe5 in 13%, scoring 29%; 3.Nf3 in 64%, scoring 49%
- 800 to 1,199, 817 games: 3.fxe5 in 11%, scoring 41%; 3.Nf3 in 70%, scoring 60%
- 1,200 to 1,599, 2,739 games: 3.fxe5 in 5%, scoring 49%; 3.Nf3 in 83%, scoring 52%
- 1,600 to 1,999, 2,633 games: 3.fxe5 in 4%, scoring 47%; 3.Nf3 in 88%, scoring 50%
- 2,000 to 2,199, 333 games: 3.fxe5 in 2%, scoring 44%; 3.Nf3 in 85%, scoring 49%
- 2,200 to 2,399, 78 games: 3.fxe5 in 1%, scoring 100%; 3.Nf3 in 88%, scoring 60%
The mistake is most common among players rated under 800, and it gets rarer at every step up in rating.
Why 3.fxe5 is a mistake
Stockfish's answer is 3...Qh4+ 4.g3 Qxe4+ 5.Qe2. The first move: the queen goes to h4, with check. Along that line, White has taken a pawn, and Black has taken a pawn, so the material is level. After fxe5, the engine gives White a disadvantage of 4.3 pawns.
The better move
3.Nf3: the knight goes to f3. Stockfish's line goes on 3.Nf3 exf4 4.d4 g5 5.d5 g4, and gives White an advantage of 0.3 pawns. Other moves come close to it, so it is the move to remember rather than the only one.
Learn more
The lesson The King's Gambit covers this opening's ideas. Traps to know shows famous tricks of the opening and how to meet them. To find the mistakes in your own games, game review checks them with Stockfish on your device and turns your mistakes into practice.