Australian Defense
1. d4 Na6
The Australian Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 Na6. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 458 times by this move order. White won 55%, 6% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 2. e4 (28% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.00 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 2. e4 c6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bd3 Bg7)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/n7/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 2- PGN
1. d4 Na6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 252 | |
| 1500-1999 | 133 | |
| 2000+ | 73 | |
| All | 458 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. e4 | 130 (28%) | |
| 2. Bf4 | 73 (16%) | |
| 2. c4 | 69 (15%) | |
| 2. Nf3 | 59 (13%) | |
| 2. e3 | 48 (10%) | |
| 2. Nc3 | 31 (7%) | |
| 2. c3 | 15 (3%) | |
| 2. a3 | 8 (2%) |
Master games
131 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 10%, Black 51%). The strongest:
- GM Aleksandar Indjic (2651) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2833) 0-1 · Titled Tue 11th Mar Early · 2025-03-11
- GM Yue Wang (2684) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2749) 1/2-1/2 · PRO League Group Stage · 2019-03-13
- GM Sam Shankland (2668) – GM Alexander Ipatov (2665) 1/2-1/2 · St Louis Spring A · 2018-03-13
- GM Varuzhan Akobian (2618) – GM Alexander Ipatov (2650) 1-0 · St Louis Fall A 2019 · 2019-09-18
- GM Hrant Melkumyan (2653) – GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2602) 1/2-1/2 · St Louis Fall A 2019 · 2019-09-18
Search all games of the Australian Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NameTheGame (2700) – NM StellarChesss (2618) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- IM Jomajo (2665) – kasparik_garik (2634) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- byrize11 (2647) – NM StellarChesss (2619) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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.