A48

Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack 4. Bf4 Bg7

Chess diagram: Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack after 4…Bg7

Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.

Statistics from Lichess

396,536 games: White 46.8% / Draw 5.5% / Black 47.7%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	182,648183K
Tarzan Attack	125,645126K
	37,18237K
	17,35817K
	8,6698,669
	8,1058,105
	3,8433,843
	3,0433,043

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

0.00 The position is about equal

Best play: 5. e3 O-O 6. Nb5 Na6 7. Nc3

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% under 1400, 50% at 2200 and up and 46% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	104K
1400–1799	201K
1800–2199	202K
2200 and up	85K
Masters, over the board	2,105

Master games

Aronian, L. – Vachier Lagrave, M. 1–0, 2017
Aronian, L. – Vachier Lagrave, M. ½–½, 2017
Aronian, L. – Vachier Lagrave, M. 1–0, 2018
Caruana, F. – Vachier Lagrave, M. ½–½, 2021
Aronian, L. – Vachier Lagrave, M. ½–½, 2020

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 27, 2026

Overview

Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (ECO A48, Flank Openings) is a variation of the Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 (4 moves).

In 396,536 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.8%, Black 47.7% and 5.5% were drawn. White's most played move here is 5. e3, in 46% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played are Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack, Tarzan Attack and Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack, Grünfeld Variation.

Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.

Write a description or report a mistake

What would you like to send? A description of this line A mistake on this page (moves, name, statistics…)

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Your name (optional) Your email (optional, not published)

Description

How to answer 4…Bg7

5. Qd2 (Tarzan Attack) scores best for White: 51.5%, with White winning 48.8% and Black 45.9% of 126K games. The most played answer, 5. e3, scores lowest: 48.7% in 183K games. Stockfish's first choice is 5. e3.

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: 0.016% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.012%.

0.012%0.016%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.012%	4,410
2017	0.014%	7,437
2018	0.015%	11,827
2019	0.014%	17,584
2020	0.016%	45,712
2021	0.015%	58,917
2022	0.015%	58,117
2023	0.016%	58,861
2024	0.016%	55,621
2025	0.016%	54,778
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.016%	17,274

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 (2)

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (A48)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-pawn-game-barry-attack-2