Modern Defense
The Modern Defense (1.e4 g6) is a flexible hypermodern reply to 1.e4. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
47,533,808 games: White 49.0% / Draw 4.6% / Black 46.4%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 25,071,40525.1M | ||
| 10,593,99610.6M | ||
| 3,248,6193.2M | ||
| 2,655,9802.7M | ||
| 2,645,7282.6M | ||
| 876,112876K | ||
| 463,539464K | ||
| 460,703461K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 6, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.52 White is slightly better
Best play: 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Bc4 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: Black scores 49% both under 1400 and at 2200 and up, and 47% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 18M | |
| 1400–1799 | 36.2M | |
| 1800–2199 | 24.5M | |
| 2200 and up | 3.1M | |
| Masters, over the board | 35K |
Master games
- Caruana, F. – Carlsen, M.
- So, W. – Carlsen, M.
- Anand, V. – Carlsen, M.
- Giri, A. – Carlsen, M.
- Vachier Lagrave, M. – Nakamura, H.
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 Modern Defense (1.e4 g6) is a flexible hypermodern reply to 1.e4. Black fianchettoes the king's bishop at once and lets White build the "ideal" centre with pawns on d4 and e4, planning to attack and undermine it later instead of occupying it.
Origins
The opening is also known as the Robatsch Defense, after Karl Robatsch. In 1965 the tenth edition of Modern Chess Openings grouped it with the Pirc as the "Pirc–Robatsch Defense". Raymond Keene and George Botterill published The Modern Defence in 1972, and the opening had a wave of popularity in the 1970s. The Canadian grandmaster Duncan Suttles was one of its leading exponents, and the British grandmasters Nigel Davies and Colin McNab have played it. Magnus Carlsen calls a variant with ...Nf6 and ...Nh5 the "Norwegian Rat", and he played it against Michael Adams at the 2010 Olympiad.
The idea
Black plays ...g6 and ...Bg7 and delays developing the knight to f6. That is the main difference from the closely related Pirc Defense, and there are many ways to transpose between the two. Because the e4-pawn is not attacked yet, White has the option of blunting the g7-bishop with c2–c3, or of playing c4, as in the Averbakh System.
Main lines
- Standard line 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6, with continuations such as 4.f4 (for example 4...c6 5.Nf3 Bg4) and 4.Nf3.
- Averbakh System with c4: 4...Nf6 there leads to a position of the King's Indian Defense.
- Three Pawns Attack 3.f4.
- The "Monkey's Bum", an early Bc4 and Qf3 line discovered by IM Nigel Povah in the 1970s, and the Norwegian Defense 2.d4 Nf6, with 3.e5 Nh5 as one of its lines.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Very flexible, with less forcing theory than most defences to 1.e4.
- It provokes White into aggressive setups that can become overextended.
- Rich, unbalanced middlegames with chances for both sides.
Weaknesses
- White gets a big centre and plenty of space. If Black's counterattack is late, Black is squeezed.
- White's extra options (c3, c4, early f4 or Be3 and Qd2) require Black to know several structures.
Who should play it
The Modern suits creative, counterattacking players who like to keep options open and are comfortable in cramped positions. It is effective against players who overextend or play on autopilot. It is less comfortable against patient opponents who build a solid centre and wait.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 48.6–49.1% and Black 46.2–47.4% in every band below 2200, and 47.3% against 46.2% above it. In master games over the board White wins 36.4%, Black 30.8%, and 32.8% are drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Modern Defense
The most played answer, 2. d4, also scores best for White: 52.0%, with White winning 49.7% and Black 45.7% of 25.1M games. Of the main answers, 2. Bc4 scores lowest: 50.2%. Stockfish's first choice is also 2. d4.
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
The Modern Defense has stayed between 1.6% and 1.9% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (1.9% in 2025).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.6% | 571,739 |
| 2017 | 1.7% | 909,463 |
| 2018 | 1.7% | 1,311,667 |
| 2019 | 1.8% | 2,252,650 |
| 2020 | 1.8% | 5,227,736 |
| 2021 | 1.8% | 7,165,386 |
| 2022 | 1.9% | 6,994,103 |
| 2023 | 1.9% | 7,030,084 |
| 2024 | 1.9% | 6,805,115 |
| 2025 | 1.9% | 6,474,855 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 1.9% | 2,032,258 |
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 (8)
- B06 Modern Defense 2. d4 Bg7
- B06 Bishop Attack, Monkey's Bum 2. Bc4 Bg7 3. Qf3 e6 4. d4 Bxd4
- B06 Fianchetto Gambit 2. d4 f5
- B06 Masur Gambit 2. d4 Nh6 3. Nc3 f5 4. Bxh6 Bxh6 5. exf5 O-O
- B06 Norwegian Defense 2. d4 Nf6
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Grand Prix Pterodactyl 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. f4 c5 4. Nf3 Qa5
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Siroccopteryx 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. Bc4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qa5+
- B06 Rat Defense: Accelerated Gurgenidze 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 c6
All 44 named lines that continue from here
No line matches.
- B06 Modern Defense 2 moves
- B06 Bishop Attack, Monkey's Bum 4 moves
- B06 Fianchetto Gambit 2 moves
- B06 Masur Gambit 5 moves
- B06 Norwegian Defense 2 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Grand Prix Pterodactyl 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Siroccopteryx 5 moves
- B06 Rat Defense: Accelerated Gurgenidze 3 moves
- B06 Bishop Attack 3 moves
- B06 Dunworthy Variation 5 moves
- B07 Geller's System 4 moves
- B06 Mongredien Defense, with Nf3 3 moves
- B06 Norwegian Gambit 4 moves
- B06 Semi-Averbakh Variation, Pterodactyl Variation Declined 5 moves
- B06 Standard Line 3 moves
- B06 Three Pawns Attack 3 moves
- B06 Westermann Gambit 3 moves
- B06 Wind Gambit 3 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Anhanguera 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Benoni Quetzalcoatlus 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Quetzalcoatlus Gambit 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, King Pterodactyl 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, Rhamphorhynchus 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Anhanguera 4 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Anti-Modern 5 moves
- B06 Bücker Gambit 3 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Gurgenidze Defense 5 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Lizard Defense, Mittenberger Gambit 3 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Modern Pterodactyl 3 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Mongredien Defense, with Nc3 3 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Standard Defense 3 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Two Knights Variation, Suttles Variation 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Austriadactylus Western 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Pteranodon 4 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Pseudo-Austrian Attack 4 moves
- B06 Modern Defense: Two Knights Variation 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Anhanguera 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Benoni Pteranodon 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Rhamphorhynchus 4 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Quetzalcoatlus 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Siroccopteryx 5 moves
- B06 Suttles Variation, Tal Gambit 6 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Pteranodon 5 moves
- B06 Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Pterodactyl 4 moves
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Modern Defense, version of 26 October 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Modern Defense (B06)”. Lichess data as of 6 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/modern-defense