Bishop's Opening: Paulsen Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6
The Bishop's Opening: Paulsen Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C24, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4,337 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (26% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. Bb3 d5 5. Nf3 a5 6. a4 Bb4+)
- ECO
- C24
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp1p1ppp/2p2n2/4p3/2B1P3/3P4/PPP2PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,666 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,216 | |
| 2000+ | 455 | |
| All | 4,337 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 1,113 (26%) | |
| 4. Bg5 | 921 (21%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 594 (14%) | |
| 4. a3 | 358 (8%) | |
| 4. h3 | 296 (7%) | |
| 4. c3 | 293 (7%) | |
| 4. f4 | 194 (4%) | |
| 4. Ne2 | 169 (4%) |
Master games
2,520 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 25%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2877) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2801) 0-1 · 2nd Sinquefield Cup 2014 · 2014-08-29
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) 1-0 · 6th Norway Chess 2018 · 2018-05-28
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2792) – GM Levon Aronian (2815) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Norway Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-02
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2862) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1/2-1/2 · Skilling Open Prelim · 2020-11-24
- GM Yi Wei (2758) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) 1-0 · 13th Norway Armageddon · 2025-06-03
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Paulsen Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- evg85 (2804) – GM jncool68 (2675) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- IM Chigorinez (2705) – Kruciatos (2744) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- CM JoeAssaad (2671) – Kruciatos (2702) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening C23
- 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
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.