A46

Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense

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Statistics from Lichess

1,043,119 games: White 46.5% / Draw 5.0% / Black 48.4%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	617,683618K
	130,530131K
	89,68590K
	64,42564K
	55,81856K
	22,53123K
	22,04722K
	17,32017K

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

Engine evaluation

−0.11 The position is about equal

Best play: 4... Nbd7 5. e4 h6 6. Bxf6 Nxf6 7. Qd3 c6 8. Be2 Bb4 9. Nd2

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 better this line does for White: White scores 49% under 1400, 54% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	604K
1400–1799	971K
1800–2199	493K
2200 and up	58K
Masters, over the board	111

Master games

Theodorou, N. – Bok, B. 1–0, 2019
Hort, V. – Balashov, Y. S. ½–½, 1999
Kavalek, L. – Quinteros, M. A. 1–0, 1983
Takker – MuratDeniz 0–1, 2006
Hector, J. – Barsov, A. 0–1, 1999

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: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense (ECO A46, Flank Openings) is a variation of the Indian Defense: Knights Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 (4 moves).

In 1,043,119 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.5%, Black 48.4% and 5.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 4…Be7, in 59% of those games.

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Description

How to answer 4. Bg5

4…Nbd7 scores best for Black: 53.2%, with Black winning 50.6% and White 44.2% of 56K games. The most played, 4…Be7, scores 50.9% in 618K games, and 4…h6 scores lowest: 49.6%. Stockfish's first choice is also 4…Nbd7.

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 Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense has stayed between 0.037% and 0.043% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (0.039% in 2025).

0.04%0.039%0.043%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.04%	14,329
2017	0.039%	21,662
2018	0.037%	29,217
2019	0.04%	49,645
2020	0.043%	124,778
2021	0.041%	161,002
2022	0.041%	152,788
2023	0.04%	151,869
2024	0.041%	146,327
2025	0.039%	133,932
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.038%	41,427

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

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense (A46)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-pawn-game-veresov-attack-classical-defense