Canard Opening
1. d4 Nf6 2. f4
The Canard Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A45, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. f4. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,979 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.43 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 2… d5 3. Nf3 Bf5 4. e3 e6 5. Bd3)
- ECO
- A45
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/5n2/8/3P1P2/8/PPP1P1PP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. f4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 595 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,888 | |
| 2000+ | 496 | |
| All | 2,979 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… d5 | 946 (32%) | |
| 2… g6 | 709 (24%) | |
| 2… e6 | 553 (19%) | |
| 2… d6 | 334 (11%) | |
| 2… c5 | 218 (7%) | |
| 2… b6 | 71 (2%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 47 (2%) | |
| 2… c6 | 31 (1%) |
Master games
186 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 14%, Black 59%). The strongest:
- IM Christopher Repka (2475) – IM Ivan Galic (2395) 1-0 · 26th TCh-CRO Div 1b 2017 · 2017-10-04
- GM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (2546) – FM Ali Rastbod (2269) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Feb Late · 2025-02-25
- CM Kleber Renato P. Zimmermann (1990) – GM Axel Bachmann (2611) 0-1 · 6th Floripa Open 2020 · 2020-01-20
- Nikola Basaraba (2200) – FM Florian Mesaros (2390) 0-1 · 6th Vojvodina Open 2015 · 2015-07-26
- Petar Hristov (1999) – GM Boris Chatalbashev (2560) 0-1 · 7th Varna Open 2013 · 2013-06-19
Search all games of the Canard Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- behrad98 (2434) – FNENAD (2548) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- OneFallWeAllFall (2413) – CM Utopist_Trainer (2478) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- MarkHammerXXL (2386) – zlarkisz (2470) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6) 1. d4 Nf6
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.