Best chess openings for Black for beginners
Lines where Black makes the last move, ranked by Black's score (wins plus half the draws) in rated Lichess games between players rated under 1400. Among the 1,500 most-played lines, those reached in at least 50,000 games at this level.
Among Lichess players rated under 1400, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz Variation scores best for Black: 60.4% (wins plus half the draws) in 575K games, ahead of Scotch Game: Classical Variation, Intermezzo Variation (59.0%) and French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted (56.2%).
The 30 best-scoring lines
| # | Opening | Moves | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B | Black score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… |
575K | 38 / 2 / 59 | 60.4% |
| 2 | C45 Scotch Game: Classical Variation, Intermezzo Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4… |
227K | 39 / 3 / 57 | 59.0% |
| 3 | C00 French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted | 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 dxe4 |
74K | 42 / 4 / 54 | 56.2% |
| 4 | C45 Scotch Game: Steinitz Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4… |
149K | 42 / 4 / 54 | 55.9% |
| 5 | C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… |
88K | 43 / 3 / 54 | 55.3% |
| 6 | B01 Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 e6 |
289K | 44 / 3 / 53 | 54.8% |
| 7 | C22 Center Game: Normal Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 |
9.2M | 43 / 4 / 53 | 54.5% |
| 8 | C02 French Defense: Advance Variation, Euwe Variation | 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6… |
192K | 44 / 3 / 53 | 54.4% |
| 9 | C35 King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 |
126K | 45 / 2 / 53 | 54.3% |
| 10 | A40 Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed Krebs | 1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 e4 |
528K | 44 / 3 / 53 | 54.3% |
| 11 | B01 Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 c6 |
318K | 44 / 3 / 53 | 54.2% |
| 12 | C21 Danish Gambit Declined: Sörensen Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d5 |
97K | 44 / 4 / 52 | 54.1% |
| 13 | A48 Indian Defense: Colle System, King's Indian Variation | 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Bd3 d6 |
173K | 44 / 4 / 52 | 54.0% |
| 14 | B41 Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 |
173K | 45 / 3 / 52 | 54.0% |
| 15 | A40 Englund Gambit: Main Line | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 |
2.2M | 45 / 3 / 52 | 53.9% |
| 16 | B45 Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
150K | 45 / 3 / 52 | 53.5% |
| 17 | C27 Vienna Game: Frankenstein-Dracula Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 |
135K | 45 / 3 / 52 | 53.4% |
| 18 | C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… |
1.6M | 45 / 3 / 52 | 53.4% |
| 19 | A00 Mieses Opening: Reversed Rat | 1. d3 e5 |
3.5M | 44 / 5 / 51 | 53.3% |
| 20 | C02 French Defense: Advance Variation | 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 |
5.7M | 45 / 4 / 51 | 53.2% |
| 21 | A48 London System | 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 |
754K | 45 / 4 / 51 | 53.2% |
| 22 | C42 Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 |
3.3M | 45 / 3 / 52 | 53.1% |
| 23 | B11 Caro-Kann Defense: Two Knights Attack, Mindeno Variation, Retreat Line | 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bh5 |
62K | 45 / 4 / 51 | 53.0% |
| 24 | B40 Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Normal | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
130K | 45 / 3 / 51 | 52.9% |
| 25 | C50 Italian Game: Blackburne-Kostić Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 |
4M | 45 / 3 / 51 | 52.9% |
| 26 | A00 Polish Opening: King's Indian Variation | 1. b4 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 |
100K | 45 / 4 / 51 | 52.8% |
| 27 | B32 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
642K | 46 / 3 / 51 | 52.3% |
| 28 | A03 Bird Opening: Dutch Variation | 1. f4 d5 |
2.9M | 46 / 4 / 50 | 52.3% |
| 29 | C50 Italian Game: Rousseau Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f5 |
1.2M | 46 / 3 / 51 | 52.2% |
| 30 | A48 East Indian Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 |
1.6M | 46 / 4 / 50 | 52.2% |
Numbers: rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess between players rated under 1400, 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.