Italian Game: Blackburne-Kostić Gambit
C50 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4
White scores 51.8% here across 425 club games — but the 24.9% who answer Nxe5 score 26.4%, 25 points worse.
What White actually plays here
Across 425 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 51.8% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nxd4 | 129 | 30.4% | 59.3% | holds up |
| Nxe5 | 106 | 24.9% | 26.4% | below the line |
| c3 | 61 | 14.4% | 65.6% | holds up |
| O-O | 54 | 12.7% | 56.5% | holds up |
| d3 | 50 | 11.8% | 62.0% | holds up |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.