Best chess openings for Black for advanced players
Lines where Black makes the last move, ranked by Black's score (wins plus half the draws) in rated Lichess games between players rated 1800 to 2199. Among the 1,500 most-played lines, those reached in at least 50,000 games at this level.
Among Lichess players rated 1800 to 2199, Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit, Lasker Trap scores best for Black: 66.2% (wins plus half the draws) in 104K games, ahead of King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit (60.9%) and Mikenas Defense: Lithuanian Variation (60.1%).
The 30 best-scoring lines
| # | Opening | Moves | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B | Black score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D08 Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit, Lasker Trap | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. e3 Bb4+… |
104K | 32 / 4 / 64 | 66.2% |
| 2 | C31 King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6 |
145K | 37 / 4 / 59 | 60.9% |
| 3 | A40 Mikenas Defense: Lithuanian Variation | 1. d4 Nc6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 |
292K | 38 / 4 / 58 | 60.1% |
| 4 | C30 King's Gambit Declined: Miles Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 |
205K | 40 / 3 / 57 | 58.6% |
| 5 | B40 Sicilian Defense: Kveinis Variation | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
143K | 39 / 6 / 55 | 57.9% |
| 6 | C89 Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6… |
233K | 40 / 5 / 55 | 57.6% |
| 7 | B21 Bird Opening: Dutch Variation, Batavo Gambit | 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 |
154K | 41 / 4 / 55 | 57.2% |
| 8 | C89 Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack, Modern Main Line | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6… |
136K | 40 / 6 / 54 | 57.1% |
| 9 | C44 Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Cochrane-Anderssen Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4… |
107K | 41 / 4 / 55 | 56.9% |
| 10 | B21 Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack, Tal Gambit | 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 |
189K | 41 / 5 / 54 | 56.5% |
| 11 | C89 Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6… |
493K | 41 / 5 / 54 | 56.3% |
| 12 | C38 King's Gambit Accepted: Traditional Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 |
368K | 42 / 4 / 54 | 56.2% |
| 13 | A54 Old Indian Defense: Ukrainian Variation | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 e5 |
233K | 42 / 7 / 52 | 54.9% |
| 14 | B01 Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 c6 |
1.6M | 43 / 5 / 52 | 54.8% |
| 15 | C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… |
341K | 43 / 4 / 53 | 54.8% |
| 16 | C44 Ponziani Opening: Ponziani Countergambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 f5 |
112K | 44 / 4 / 53 | 54.5% |
| 17 | E92 King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation, Stein Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6… |
128K | 43 / 5 / 52 | 54.4% |
| 18 | B03 Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Fianchetto Variation | 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6… |
200K | 44 / 4 / 52 | 54.3% |
| 19 | B43 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Wing Attack | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6… |
562K | 44 / 5 / 52 | 54.2% |
| 20 | B01 Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 |
847K | 43 / 5 / 52 | 54.2% |
| 21 | B47 Sicilian Defense: Taimanov Variation, Bastrikov Variation | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
599K | 43 / 5 / 52 | 54.2% |
| 22 | C45 Scotch Game: Steinitz Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4… |
407K | 43 / 6 / 51 | 54.1% |
| 23 | A57 Benko Gambit | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 |
2.7M | 43 / 5 / 51 | 54.0% |
| 24 | B01 Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 e6 |
1.4M | 44 / 4 / 52 | 54.0% |
| 25 | A00 Lasker Simul Special | 1. g3 h5 |
166K | 44 / 4 / 52 | 54.0% |
| 26 | A56 Benoni Defense: Czech Benoni Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 |
223K | 44 / 5 / 51 | 53.9% |
| 27 | B40 Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Normal | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
2.3M | 44 / 5 / 51 | 53.8% |
| 28 | C18 French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation | 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5… |
101K | 44 / 5 / 51 | 53.8% |
| 29 | A41 Rat Defense: English Rat | 1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5 |
913K | 43 / 7 / 50 | 53.6% |
| 30 | C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5… |
187K | 45 / 4 / 52 | 53.6% |
Numbers: rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess between players rated 1800 to 2199, fetched for the 1,500 most-played lines and refreshed monthly. 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.