Best chess openings for White for advanced players
Lines where White makes the last move, ranked by White'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, Vienna Game: Stanley Variation, Meitner-Mieses Gambit scores best for White: 71.0% (wins plus half the draws) in 190K games, ahead of Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack (66.0%) and Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack (63.3%).
The 30 best-scoring lines
| # | Opening | Moves | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B | White score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C25 Vienna Game: Stanley Variation, Meitner-Mieses Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4… |
190K | 70 / 2 / 28 | 71.0% |
| 2 | C57 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5… |
419K | 64 / 3 / 32 | 66.0% |
| 3 | C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4… |
694K | 62 / 3 / 35 | 63.3% |
| 4 | B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Maróczy Variation, Maróczy Gambit | 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 dxe4 4. fxe4 e5… |
135K | 61 / 4 / 35 | 63.1% |
| 5 | E09 Catalan Opening: Closed, Main Line | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7… |
149K | 57 / 7 / 36 | 60.6% |
| 6 | C50 Italian Game: Deutz Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O… |
811K | 58 / 4 / 38 | 60.4% |
| 7 | D01 Richter-Veresov Attack: Richter Variation | 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bg5 Bf5 4. f3 |
115K | 58 / 4 / 38 | 60.1% |
| 8 | C77 Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Mackenzie Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6… |
106K | 58 / 5 / 38 | 59.9% |
| 9 | A08 Zukertort Opening: Reversed Grünfeld | 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 |
406K | 57 / 6 / 37 | 59.8% |
| 10 | D07 Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Janowski Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Nf3 |
306K | 57 / 4 / 38 | 59.6% |
| 11 | C48 Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Ranken Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 a6… |
142K | 57 / 5 / 38 | 59.3% |
| 12 | C65 Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation, Zukertort Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O… |
501K | 57 / 4 / 39 | 59.1% |
| 13 | C62 Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 |
1.9M | 56 / 6 / 38 | 59.1% |
| 14 | D21 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 |
1.2M | 56 / 5 / 38 | 59.0% |
| 15 | C44 Scotch Game: Göring Gambit, Double Pawn Sacrifice | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3… |
874K | 57 / 4 / 39 | 59.0% |
| 16 | C23 Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. d4 |
180K | 57 / 4 / 39 | 58.8% |
| 17 | A54 Old Indian Defense: Two Knights Variation | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 |
136K | 56 / 5 / 38 | 58.8% |
| 18 | A00 Van Geet Opening: Napoleon Attack | 1. Nc3 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 |
135K | 56 / 5 / 39 | 58.7% |
| 19 | D38 Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Alekhine Variation | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4… |
121K | 56 / 5 / 39 | 58.6% |
| 20 | C22 Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 |
1.2M | 56 / 4 / 40 | 58.4% |
| 21 | C35 King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense, Bertin Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4… |
236K | 57 / 3 / 40 | 58.3% |
| 22 | A82 Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit | 1. d4 f5 2. e4 |
612K | 56 / 5 / 39 | 58.3% |
| 23 | C44 Scotch Game: Lolli Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 Nxd4 4. Nxd4… |
3.1M | 55 / 6 / 39 | 58.2% |
| 24 | C27 Bishop's Opening: Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Nc3 |
149K | 56 / 5 / 40 | 58.2% |
| 25 | A14 Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Stonewall Line | 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7… |
126K | 55 / 7 / 39 | 58.1% |
| 26 | C47 Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation, Belgrade Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4… |
131K | 55 / 5 / 39 | 58.1% |
| 27 | C41 Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3 |
272K | 56 / 4 / 40 | 58.0% |
| 28 | D31 Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e4 |
750K | 56 / 5 / 40 | 57.9% |
| 29 | A39 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Mecking Variation | 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 g6… |
187K | 54 / 7 / 39 | 57.8% |
| 30 | C25 Vienna Game: Paulsen Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 |
374K | 55 / 5 / 40 | 57.8% |
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.