Paulsen Countergambit

The Paulsen Countergambit is the usual way Black continues the Elephant Gambit after 3. exd5. Rather than recapture with the queen and lose time to Nc3, Black advances 3...e4, attacking the knight on f3 and leaving White a pawn ahead. The extra pawn sits on d5, so White's d-pawns are doubled, while Black's e4-pawn takes space and restricts White's kingside development. The line takes its name from Louis Paulsen, the 19th-century German master; one reference applies the name Paulsen Countergambit to 2...d5 as a whole, which is now normally called the Elephant Gambit.

White's main concern is where to put the attacked knight without letting Black's lead in development and central space become dangerous. The most popular reply is 4. Qe2, which pins the e4-pawn against the black king so that ...exf3 is illegal and the knight can stay where it is. A standard continuation is 4...Nf6 5. d3 Qxd5 6. Nbd2, when 6...Nc6 7. dxe4 or 6...Be7 7. dxe4 Qe6 leaves White a pawn up. Developing with 6. Nbd2 rather than 6. Nc3 avoids the tactics that follow a pin with 6...Bb4.

The centralizing 4. Nd4 is the second most common choice and the one after which Black scores best in online games. The modest retreat 4. Ng1 is also frequent; it gives up time but keeps the knight out of reach and prepares to target e4 later. The engine regards 4. Ne5 as another good option.

Objectively the countergambit is suspect: the engine assesses the position after 3...e4 as clearly better for White. Practical results tell a different story, as Black wins slightly more than half of the Lichess games that reach this position. The gap between evaluation and results reflects the forcing, tactical nature of the play and the precision required from White, which explains why the line is far more common in online play than at a high level.