King's Pawn Game: Napoleon Attack
The Napoleon Attack, or Napoleon Opening, is 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
2,141,790 games: White 48.1% / Draw 4.4% / Black 47.5%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 908,060908K | ||
| 656,708657K | ||
| 213,147213K | ||
| 148,967149K | ||
| 117,661118K | ||
| 14,89515K | ||
| 11,14811K | ||
| 10,51111K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 2, 2026
Engine evaluation
−0.25 The position is about equal
Best play: 2... Nf6 3. Bc4 c6 4. Nc3 b5 5. Bb3 b4 6. Na4 Be7 7. Ne2
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: White scores 52% under 1400, 54% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 11.2M | |
| 1400–1799 | 5.1M | |
| 1800–2199 | 487K | |
| 2200 and up | 5,791 | |
| Masters, over the board | 16 |
Master games
- Van Foreest, J. – Vachier Lagrave, M.
- Vachier Lagrave, M. – Van Foreest, J.
- Dimitrov, P. – Belov, V.
- Sattarov, B. – Espinoza Palomino, W.
- Varavin, V. – Tolstikh, N.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Description
The Napoleon Attack, or Napoleon Opening, is 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3. Like the Wayward Queen Attack, 2.Qh5, it brings the queen out early in the hope of Scholar's Mate, for example 2...Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qxf7#, but Black can easily avoid the attack.
Origins
The opening is named after Napoleon Bonaparte, who loved chess but is said to have been a mediocre player. The name came into use after mid-19th-century publications reported that he played this opening in an 1809 game he lost to the Turk, a fake chess automaton operated at the time by the master and theoretician Johann Allgaier.
The idea
The Napoleon is a weak opening. It develops the queen too early, where Black can attack her with gain of time, and it takes away the best square of White's king's knight, f3. Unlike 2.Qh5, 2.Qf3 does nothing to hinder Black's development, so Black can develop normally.
The numbers
On Lichess the two sides are almost even: White wins 48.1% of the 2.1 million games and Black 47.5%. The split stays close at every rating up to 2199, for example 48.0% against 47.6% between 1800 and 2199. From 2200 up White wins 50.9% against 43.2%. There are too few master games over the board, 16, to say anything.
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How to play against the King's Pawn Game: Napoleon Attack
The most played answer, 2…Nc6, also scores best for Black: 50.4%, with Black winning 48.3% and White 47.4% of 908K games. Of the main answers, 2…Bc5 scores lowest: 48.3%. Stockfish's first choice is 2…Nf6.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
The King's Pawn Game: Napoleon Attack has lost ground since 2016: 0.07% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.14%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.14% | 49,688 |
| 2017 | 0.086% | 47,081 |
| 2018 | 0.066% | 52,016 |
| 2019 | 0.062% | 77,388 |
| 2020 | 0.08% | 234,247 |
| 2021 | 0.1% | 404,806 |
| 2022 | 0.092% | 344,175 |
| 2023 | 0.083% | 312,308 |
| 2024 | 0.077% | 275,583 |
| 2025 | 0.07% | 241,511 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.065% | 71,272 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Napoleon Opening, version of 28 September 2025, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Comparison with 2.Qh5: adapted from the Wikipedia article Danvers Opening, version of 29 August 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “King's Pawn Game: Napoleon Attack (C20)”. Lichess data as of 2 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-pawn-game-napoleon-attack