Barnes Opening
1. f3
The Barnes Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. f3. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10,477 times by this move order. White won 43%, 5% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 1… e5 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.77 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 1… e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e4 Bc5 4. Bc4)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 1 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/5P2/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1- PGN
1. f3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5,217 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4,065 | |
| 2000+ | 1,195 | |
| All | 10,477 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1… e5 | 3,758 (36%) | |
| 1… d5 | 2,893 (28%) | |
| 1… e6 | 725 (7%) | |
| 1… c5 | 709 (7%) | |
| 1… c6 | 478 (5%) | |
| 1… Nf6 | 451 (4%) | |
| 1… g6 | 362 (3%) | |
| 1… d6 | 286 (3%) |
Master games
390 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 8%, Black 44%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2833) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Mar Early · 2025-03-25
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2750) 1/2-1/2 · Oslo Esports Cup 2022 · 2022-04-22
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 0-1 · Titled Tue 14th Mar Late · 2023-03-14
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) – GM Yangyi Yu (2720) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-04
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2741) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 0-1 · Chessable Masters Div 2 W · 2023-04-05
Search all games of the Barnes Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- f3_2 (2583) – LY0329 (2782) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- ALBING0 (2594) – DantheM4n (2727) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- TimurVoronezh (2592) – FM Crew12 (2722) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Continuations
- Barnes Opening: Hammerschlag A00 · 1. f3 e5 2. Kf2
- Barnes Opening: Fool's Mate A00 · 1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4#
- Barnes Opening: Gedult Gambit (2… fxe4 3. Nc3) A00 · 1. f3 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3
- Barnes Opening: Walkerling C20 · 1. f3 e5 2. e4 Nf6 3. Bc4
- Barnes Opening: Gedult Gambit (3… dxe4 4. c3) A00 · 1. f3 d5 2. e4 g6 3. d4 dxe4 4. c3
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.