Alekhine Defense (1. e4 Nf6)

1. e4 Nf6

The Alekhine Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B02, reached after 1. e4 Nf6. White is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 115,927 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 2. e5 (44% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.68 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6)

ECO: B02
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/5n2/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. e4 Nf6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	44,870	51%45%
1500-1999	48,912	48%48%
2000+	22,145	46%48%
All	115,927	49%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. e5	51,437 (44%)	49%47%
2. Nc3	38,778 (33%)	50%45%
2. d3 Maróczy Variation	7,650 (7%)	49%46%
2. Nf3	7,449 (6%)	45%52%
2. Bc4 Krejcik Variation	3,563 (3%)	46%49%
2. Qf3	1,732 (1%)	49%48%
2. d4	1,652 (1%)	46%50%
2. f3	1,486 (1%)	45%50%

Master games

1,678 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 19%, Black 43%). The strongest:

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Winners 2023 · 2023-07-21
GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Naroditsky, D. (2619) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Losers 2023 · 2023-07-21
GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2719) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2732) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Jul Late · 2023-07-11
GM Eltaj Safarli (2660) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2753) 0-1 · FIDE World Blitz 2013 · 2013-06-09
GM Richard Rapport (2731) – GM Jorden Van Foreest (2679) 1-0 · 9th Gashimov Mem Blitz · 2023-12-11

Search all games of the Alekhine Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

tsunami10 (2814) – ChessWarrior_222 (2778) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Jiordani_Jovanovich (2834) – FM stanbad1 (2732) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Lifvix01 (2808) – notkevich (2749) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4) 1. e4

Continuations

Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. Bc4
Alekhine Defense: Maróczy Variation B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. d3
Alekhine Defense: Brooklyn Variation B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ng8
Alekhine Defense: Mokele Mbembe B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Ne4
Alekhine Defense: Normal Variation B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5
Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation B02 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5

More Alekhine Defense lines (all)

Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.