Anderssen's Opening
1. a3
The Anderssen's Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. a3. Black is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10,606 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 1… e5 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.06 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 1… c5 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 1 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/P7/1PPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1- PGN
1. a3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4,069 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4,989 | |
| 2000+ | 1,548 | |
| All | 10,606 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1… e5 | 3,859 (36%) | |
| 1… d5 | 2,822 (27%) | |
| 1… Nf6 | 717 (7%) | |
| 1… e6 | 649 (6%) | |
| 1… c5 | 527 (5%) | |
| 1… g6 | 482 (5%) | |
| 1… c6 | 399 (4%) | |
| 1… d6 | 288 (3%) |
Master games
4,690 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 11%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2853) 0-1 · Titled Tue 9th May Early · 2023-05-09
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1-0 · Titled Tue 24th Jan Late · 2023-01-24
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Jan Early · 2023-01-03
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2856) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Oct Early · 2022-10-11
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess Q2Sw · 2023-08-23
Search all games of the Anderssen's Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM sillyMASTER (2858) – Sobino106 (2780) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- ChessWarrior_222 (2784) – tsunami10 (2806) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2683) – Nana_jede_cevape (2895) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Continuations
- Anderssen's Opening: Polish Gambit A00 · 1. a3 a5 2. b4
- Van Geet Opening: Battambang Variation A00 · 1. a3 e5 2. Nc3
- Formation: Hippopotamus Attack A00 · 1. a3 e5 2. b3 d5 3. c3 Nf6 4. d3 Nc6 5. e3 Bd6 6. f3 O-O 7. g3
- Formation: Shy Attack A00 · 1. a3 e5 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. d3 Nc6 5. Nd2 Bd6 6. e3 O-O 7. h3
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.