Caissa Codex

Best chess openings for White

Lines where White makes the last move, so White can steer the game into them, ranked by White'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, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack scores best for White: 68.1% (wins plus half the draws) in 1.3M games, ahead of Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack (63.3%) and Italian Game: Deutz Gambit (60.5%).

The 50 best-scoring lines

# Opening Moves Games White / Draw / BlackW / D / B White score
1 C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… 1.3M 67 / 3 / 30 68.1%
2 C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4… 1.2M 62 / 3 / 35 63.3%
3 C50 Italian Game: Deutz Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O… 1.3M 59 / 4 / 38 60.5%
4 C44 Scotch Game: Göring Gambit, Double Pawn Sacrifice 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3… 1.6M 58 / 3 / 39 59.2%
5 D21 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 2.4M 56 / 5 / 39 58.4%
6 D20 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 5.7M 56 / 5 / 39 58.1%
7 C62 Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 4M 55 / 5 / 39 58.0%
8 A00 Grob Opening: Grob Gambit, Fritz Gambit 1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 1.1M 56 / 3 / 40 57.8%
9 C44 Scotch Game: Lolli Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 Nxd4 4. Nxd4… 8.7M 55 / 6 / 40 57.7%
10 C29 Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 4.3M 56 / 4 / 40 57.6%
11 D31 Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e4 1.1M 55 / 5 / 40 57.4%
12 C24 Bishop's Opening: Ponziani Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 1.8M 55 / 4 / 41 57.3%
13 C44 Scotch Game: Göring Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3 2.8M 55 / 4 / 41 57.3%
14 D24 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Showalter Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 1.2M 54 / 5 / 41 56.8%
15 A18 English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 1.3M 54 / 5 / 41 56.5%
16 C22 Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 2.5M 54 / 4 / 42 56.2%
17 C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Modern Line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6… 1.2M 54 / 5 / 41 56.2%
18 C21 Center Game: Kieseritzky Variation 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 4.8M 54 / 4 / 42 56.1%
19 C21 Danish Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 11M 54 / 4 / 42 56.1%
20 C65 Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O 4.6M 53 / 5 / 41 56.1%
21 A09 Réti Opening 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 5.8M 53 / 5 / 41 55.9%
22 D20 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Saduleto Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 4.7M 54 / 4 / 42 55.9%
23 C33 King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 1.7M 54 / 3 / 42 55.9%
24 C44 Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 11.1M 54 / 4 / 42 55.8%
25 B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Tal Variation 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 2.1M 53 / 5 / 42 55.8%
26 D00 Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 5.5M 53 / 5 / 42 55.6%
27 A13 English Opening: Agincourt Defense 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 2.1M 53 / 6 / 41 55.6%
28 C41 Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 1M 53 / 4 / 43 55.4%
29 A08 King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 2M 53 / 5 / 42 55.4%
30 C21 Center Game: von der Lasa Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Bc4 1.1M 53 / 4 / 43 55.3%
31 D07 Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 1.4M 53 / 4 / 43 55.2%
32 C25 Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 2M 53 / 4 / 43 55.1%
33 C00 French Defense: Chigorin Variation 1. e4 e6 2. Qe2 1M 52 / 5 / 42 55.1%
34 E06 Catalan Opening: Closed 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7… 1.6M 51 / 8 / 41 55.1%
35 B18 Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Main Line 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4… 1.6M 52 / 6 / 42 55.1%
36 A07 King's Indian Attack 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 7.8M 52 / 6 / 42 55.1%
37 C20 Center Game 1. e4 e5 2. d4 31.6M 53 / 4 / 43 55.0%
38 C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Center Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6… 4.2M 53 / 5 / 43 55.0%
39 D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5… 3.9M 52 / 6 / 42 55.0%
40 E00 Catalan Opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 1.5M 51 / 7 / 42 55.0%
41 B06 Modern Defense: Standard Line 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 6.4M 53 / 5 / 43 54.9%
42 C44 Scotch Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 43.8M 52 / 5 / 43 54.8%
43 D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 5.5M 52 / 6 / 42 54.8%
44 C47 Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 5M 52 / 6 / 42 54.8%
45 B10 Caro-Kann Defense: Endgame Offer 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 1.4M 52 / 6 / 42 54.8%
46 C41 Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 9.3M 52 / 5 / 43 54.7%
47 A27 English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 1.3M 52 / 5 / 43 54.7%
48 C26 Bishop's Opening: Vienna Hybrid, Spielmann Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 1.6M 52 / 4 / 43 54.7%
49 D11 Slav Defense: Modern Line 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 10.5M 52 / 6 / 42 54.7%
50 C64 Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation, Central Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 2.1M 53 / 4 / 43 54.6%

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 White 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-white