Best chess openings for White for intermediate 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 1400 to 1799. Among the 1,500 most-played lines, those reached in at least 50,000 games at this level.
Among Lichess players rated 1400 to 1799, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack scores best for White: 70.1% (wins plus half the draws) in 2.2M games, ahead of Vienna Game: Stanley Variation, Meitner-Mieses Gambit (68.7%) and Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack (63.7%).
The 30 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… |
2.2M | 69 / 3 / 29 | 70.1% |
| 2 | C25 Vienna Game: Stanley Variation, Meitner-Mieses Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4… |
321K | 68 / 2 / 30 | 68.7% |
| 3 | C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4… |
721K | 62 / 2 / 35 | 63.7% |
| 4 | C80 Ruy Lopez: Open | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6… |
56K | 61 / 4 / 35 | 62.8% |
| 5 | C23 Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. d4 |
370K | 60 / 3 / 37 | 61.8% |
| 6 | B15 Caro-Kann Defense: Alien Gambit | 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4… |
66K | 60 / 3 / 37 | 61.5% |
| 7 | C50 Italian Game: Deutz Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O… |
679K | 60 / 3 / 37 | 61.3% |
| 8 | C41 Philidor Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. dxe5 |
486K | 59 / 5 / 36 | 61.3% |
| 9 | C27 Bishop's Opening: Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Nc3 |
147K | 60 / 3 / 37 | 61.2% |
| 10 | D07 Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Janowski Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Nf3 |
912K | 58 / 4 / 38 | 59.8% |
| 11 | C65 Ruy Lopez: Classical Variation, Zukertort Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O… |
597K | 58 / 3 / 39 | 59.7% |
| 12 | D21 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 |
1.8M | 58 / 4 / 38 | 59.7% |
| 13 | C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Modern Line | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6… |
686K | 58 / 3 / 39 | 59.6% |
| 14 | C37 King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit, Wild Muzio Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4… |
179K | 58 / 2 / 39 | 59.5% |
| 15 | C44 Scotch Game: Göring Gambit, Double Pawn Sacrifice | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3… |
1.2M | 58 / 3 / 39 | 59.4% |
| 16 | B76 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Modern Line | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
212K | 58 / 4 / 39 | 59.4% |
| 17 | E04 Catalan Opening: Open Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4… |
112K | 57 / 4 / 39 | 59.4% |
| 18 | C29 Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 |
3.8M | 57 / 3 / 39 | 59.1% |
| 19 | D20 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 |
6.8M | 57 / 4 / 39 | 59.0% |
| 20 | C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Walbrodt-Baird Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6… |
244K | 57 / 3 / 40 | 58.5% |
| 21 | C43 Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 |
70K | 57 / 4 / 40 | 58.5% |
| 22 | C28 Bishop's Opening: Vienna Hybrid, Hromádka Variation | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bb4… |
151K | 57 / 4 / 40 | 58.4% |
| 23 | C65 Ruy Lopez: Berlin Defense | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O |
3.2M | 57 / 4 / 40 | 58.4% |
| 24 | D24 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Showalter Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 |
978K | 56 / 4 / 40 | 58.4% |
| 25 | C13 French Defense: Alekhine-Chatard Attack | 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7… |
55K | 57 / 3 / 40 | 58.3% |
| 26 | D24 Queen's Gambit Accepted | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4… |
432K | 56 / 4 / 40 | 58.2% |
| 27 | A80 Dutch Defense: Hopton Attack | 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 |
249K | 56 / 3 / 40 | 58.1% |
| 28 | B77 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Main Line | 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4… |
144K | 56 / 4 / 40 | 58.0% |
| 29 | D09 Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit, Fianchetto Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6… |
90K | 56 / 4 / 40 | 57.9% |
| 30 | A00 Grob Opening: Grob Gambit, Fritz Gambit | 1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 |
599K | 56 / 3 / 41 | 57.8% |
Numbers: rated blitz, rapid and classical games on Lichess between players rated 1400 to 1799, 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.