Caissa Codex

Best chess openings for Black

Lines where Black makes the last move, the defenses and replies Black can choose, ranked by Black's score: wins plus half the draws. Only lines played in at least a million games are ranked.

Among lines played at least a million times on Lichess, Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer scores best for Black: 54.6% (wins plus half the draws) in 2.7M games, ahead of Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit (53.9%) and Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation (53.5%).

The 50 best-scoring lines

# Opening Moves Games White / Draw / BlackW / D / B Black score
1 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 c6 2.7M 43 / 5 / 52 54.6%
2 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 e6 2.4M 44 / 4 / 52 53.9%
3 B02 Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 4.5M 44 / 6 / 51 53.5%
4 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 1.2M 44 / 5 / 51 53.5%
5 C40 Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 e4 3.2M 45 / 4 / 51 53.4%
6 B40 Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Normal 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… 3.8M 44 / 5 / 51 53.3%
7 C63 Ruy Lopez: Schliemann Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 1.7M 44 / 5 / 51 53.0%
8 C02 French Defense: Advance Variation, Euwe Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6… 2.5M 45 / 5 / 51 53.0%
9 A57 Benko Gambit 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4.2M 44 / 6 / 50 53.0%
10 B41 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 7.2M 45 / 5 / 50 52.9%
11 B45 Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… 3.9M 45 / 6 / 50 52.7%
12 B47 Sicilian Defense: Taimanov Variation, Bastrikov Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… 1.1M 45 / 6 / 50 52.7%
13 C45 Scotch Game: Classical Variation, Intermezzo Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4… 1.1M 45 / 5 / 50 52.7%
14 C02 French Defense: Advance Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 22.9M 45 / 5 / 50 52.7%
15 A41 Rat Defense: English Rat 1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5 1.5M 44 / 7 / 49 52.6%
16 B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 5.8M 45 / 5 / 50 52.6%
17 C31 King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Staunton Line 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 1.8M 46 / 4 / 50 52.2%
18 C50 Italian Game: Rousseau Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f5 2.5M 46 / 3 / 50 52.1%
19 A56 Benoni Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 9.8M 45 / 6 / 49 52.0%
20 B21 Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Declined, Alapin Formation 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 Nf6 1.1M 45 / 6 / 49 51.8%
21 C41 Philidor Defense: Lion Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 1.5M 46 / 5 / 49 51.7%
22 A57 Benko Gambit Accepted 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 2.3M 45 / 6 / 49 51.7%
23 B40 Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Open 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 20.5M 46 / 5 / 49 51.6%
24 B29 Sicilian Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 1.5M 46 / 5 / 49 51.4%
25 C31 King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 6.2M 47 / 4 / 49 51.3%
26 B70 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… 6.1M 46 / 5 / 49 51.3%
27 B02 Alekhine Defense 1. e4 Nf6 28.2M 46 / 5 / 49 51.2%
28 C40 Elephant Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 7.7M 47 / 4 / 49 51.1%
29 B02 Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Geschev Gambit 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 c6 1.1M 47 / 4 / 49 51.1%
30 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Main Line, Mieses Variation 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4… 3M 47 / 5 / 49 51.0%
31 C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Traxler Counterattack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5… 1.3M 47 / 3 / 49 51.0%
32 B40 Sicilian Defense: French Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 39.5M 47 / 5 / 49 51.0%
33 B27 Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Pterodactyl 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 1.9M 47 / 5 / 49 51.0%
34 B11 Caro-Kann Defense: Two Knights Attack, Mindeno Variation 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 1.7M 46 / 6 / 48 51.0%
35 B02 Alekhine Defense: Normal Variation 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 14.7M 47 / 5 / 48 51.0%
36 B27 Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 10.3M 46 / 5 / 48 51.0%
37 A00 Mieses Opening: Reversed Rat 1. d3 e5 2.4M 47 / 4 / 49 50.8%
38 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 27.7M 47 / 5 / 48 50.8%
39 C42 Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4.6M 47 / 4 / 49 50.8%
40 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 c6 5.1M 47 / 4 / 49 50.7%
41 A46 Indian Defense: Spielmann-Indian 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3.3M 46 / 6 / 48 50.7%
42 B28 Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 4.7M 47 / 5 / 48 50.7%
43 B32 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… 9M 47 / 5 / 48 50.6%
44 D80 Grünfeld Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 6.3M 46 / 7 / 47 50.6%
45 A02 Bird Opening: From's Gambit 1. f4 e5 2.9M 47 / 4 / 49 50.6%
46 B22 Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Smith-Morra Declined 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 2.2M 46 / 6 / 47 50.6%
47 D85 Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5… 2.7M 46 / 7 / 47 50.6%
48 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Main Line 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 17.8M 47 / 5 / 48 50.6%
49 C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… 4.5M 48 / 4 / 49 50.5%
50 C31 King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Modern Transfer 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 exf4 1.4M 47 / 4 / 48 50.5%

Numbers: rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer as cached by this site; a line's numbers are refreshed once they are a week old. Each name appears once, as its most-played line. At this level, sharp lines in which a natural-looking reply goes wrong score highest. A high score says how a line does in practice, not that it is objectively best.

Best openings for Black by rating

What scores best changes with the players' strength. The leader at each level, among the 1,500 most-played lines (each level has its own ranking):

https://chesscodex.org/best-openings-for-black