About this opening
Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack, Blackburne Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code C45. ECO group C (C00–C99)
covers open games (1.e4 e5) and the French Defence, including the Ruy Lopez, Italian, Scotch and King's Gambit. This particular variation is reached
after 17 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nb5 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Kd8 8. O-O Bxd2 9. Qxd2.
It belongs to the Scotch Game family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Horwitz Attack → Blackburne Variation line). The immediate parent line is Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack, transitioned via 9.Qxd2.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 Nc6, 3.d4 exd4, 4.Nxd4 Qh4, 5.Nb5 Bb4+, 6.Bd2 Qxe4+. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of C45 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.