A48

London System 4. e3 d6

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Statistics from Lichess

3,349,557 games: White 47.5% / Draw 5.4% / Black 47.1%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
with Bd3	670,474670K
	644,373644K
with Be2	637,056637K
	419,057419K
	367,175367K
	284,502285K
	171,702172K
	65,93866K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.13 The position is about equal

Best play: 5. h3 O-O 6. Be2 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. c3 Nbd7 9. a4 a6

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

The stronger the players, the worse this line does for Black: Black scores 53% under 1400, 47% at 2200 and up and 51% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	754K
1400–1799	1.9M
1800–2199	2M
2200 and up	281K
Masters, over the board	1,740

Master games

Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L. ½–½, 2015
Carlsen, M. – Vachier Lagrave, M. 1–0, 2017
Caruana, F. – Vachier Lagrave, M. 0–1, 2018
Carlsen, M. – Radjabov, T. 1–0, 2015
Nakamura, H. – Aronian, L. ½–½, 2014

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

Overview

London System (ECO A48, Flank Openings) is a variation of the London System, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 (4 moves).

In 3,349,557 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 47.5%, Black 47.1% and 5.4% were drawn. White's most played move here is 5. Bd3, in 20% of those games.

It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are London System, with Bd3 and London System, with Be2. In all, 4 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to answer 4…d6

5. h3 scores best for White: 54.5%, with White winning 51.5% and Black 42.4% of 644K games. The most played answer, 5. Bd3, scores lowest: 45.8% in 670K games. Stockfish's first choice is also 5. h3.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White'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

This line has gained ground since 2016: 0.13% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.073% (its peak: 0.16% in 2020).

0.073%0.13%0.16%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.073%	26,032
2017	0.11%	58,023
2018	0.13%	103,985
2019	0.13%	164,428
2020	0.16%	454,179
2021	0.13%	525,727
2022	0.13%	480,837
2023	0.13%	470,954
2024	0.12%	444,963
2025	0.13%	437,145
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.13%	139,624

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

Variations (3)

All 4 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “London System (A48)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/london-system-3