Nimzowitsch Defense: Declined Variation

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Overview

Nimzowitsch Defense: Declined Variation is a variation within the Semi-Open Games family, indexed as ECO B00.

The Semi-Open Games group covers semi-open games — replies to 1.e4 where Black declines the symmetrical 1…e5 in favour of an asymmetric pawn structure.

The line arises from 3 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3.

It is a variation of Nimzowitsch Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.

It branches into 4 notable variations — Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit, Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Nimzowitsch Defense: Franco-Nimzowitsch Variation, and others.

Together the deeper variations number 8 across the full subtree.

Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.

ECO code: B00
Group: Semi-Open Games (B)
Plies: 3
Parent: Nimzowitsch Defense
Direct variations: 4
Total in subtree: 8

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Statistics from Lichess

9,223,750 games · White 49.2% / Draw 4.5% / Black 46.2%

Moves	Games	W / D / B
e5	3,931,424
d5	1,453,503
d6	1,162,446
f5	923,152
Nf6	545,196
e6	524,811
g6	272,972
b6	220,074

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:51:40

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Variations (4)

Show all 8 sub-variations (full subtree)

Overview

Statistics from Lichess

Variations (4)

Related variations at the same level