Vienna Game
Chess opening · ECO C25 · 3 half-moves
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3
The Vienna Game is reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3. It is Black's move in the position shown.
It branches from the King's Pawn Game with 1… e5 2. Nc3.
How often it is played
The Vienna Game and its variations appeared in 1.5% of games — 43,974 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 33 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 52%, 3.4% were drawn and Black won 45%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.17 — which is level. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| King's Knight Opening | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 | 15% |
| Sicilian Defense | 1. e4 c5 | 9.6% |
| French Defense | 1. e4 e6 | 6.4% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Vienna Game: Falkbeer Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 | 0.45% |
| Vienna Game: Max Lange Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 | 0.44% |
| Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 | 0.14% |
| Vienna Game: Omaha Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 | 0.03% |
| Vienna Game: Zhuravlev Countergambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb4 3. Qg4 Nf6 | 0.00% |
Check your own games
Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.
Open the analyzer