Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6
The Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C24, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. White is to move. 8 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 120,250 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3. d3 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 53; best line 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Nf3 d6 5. d4 exd4)
- ECO
- C24
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 71,532 | |
| 1500-1999 | 44,715 | |
| 2000+ | 4,003 | |
| All | 120,250 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. d3 | 43,760 (36%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 27,299 (23%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 22,056 (18%) | |
| 3. Qf3 | 9,842 (8%) | |
| 3. d4 Ponziani Gambit | 8,460 (7%) | |
| 3. Bxf7+ | 2,063 (2%) | |
| 3. c3 | 1,253 (1%) | |
| 3. Nh3 | 820 (1%) |
Master games
4,579 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 19%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773) 1-0 · Airthings Masters KO 2022 · 2022-02-26
- GM So, W. (2753) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-19
- GM So, W. (2753) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727) 1/2-1/2 · 84th Tata Steel Masters · 2022-01-28
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2799) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2782) 0-1 · Champions Showdown G10 · 2017-11-11
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- evg85 (2804) – GM jncool68 (2675) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- evg85 (2806) – Normal_one (2651) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- IM Chigorinez (2705) – Kruciatos (2744) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
Continuations
- Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense, Greco Gambit C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. f4
- Bishop's Opening: Ponziani Gambit C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4
- Bishop's Opening: Horwitz Gambit C26 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 b5
- Bishop's Opening: Paulsen Defense C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6
- Bishop's Opening: Pachman Gambit C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Ne2 Nxe4 4. Nec3
- Bishop's Opening: Vienna Hybrid C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nc3
- Bishop's Opening: Kitchener Folly C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Be7 4. Nf3 O-O
- Bishop's Opening: Krejcik Gambit C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. f3 Bc5 4. Ne2 Nc6 5. b4
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening: Anderssen Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit, Jaenisch Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Four Pawns Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Khan Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (3. c3 d5) C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (4. Bxd5 Nf6) C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit, Walker Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lisitsyn Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Gambit C23
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.