English Defense (1. d4 b6)

1. d4 b6

English Defense after 1. d4 b6 87654321abcdefgh

The English Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 b6. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 55,328 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2. c4 (26% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.88 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2. e4 Bb7 3. Bd3 d6 4. c4 Nd7)

ECO
A40
Moves
2 plies
FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/1p6/8/3P4/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN
1. d4 b6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average ratingGamesWhite / draw / Black
0-149919,75750%47%
1500-199931,07650%46%
2000+4,49551%44%
All55,32850%46%

Most played moves

MoveGamesWhite / draw / Black
2. c414,577 (26%)50%46%
2. Bf410,673 (19%)50%46%
2. e410,242 (19%)51%45%
2. Nf38,163 (15%)51%45%
2. e34,294 (8%)49%46%
2. Nc33,308 (6%)49%47%
2. Bg5782 (1%)55%41%
2. c3657 (1%)46%49%

Master games

2,986 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 12%, Black 42%). The strongest:

Search all games of the English Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Comes from

Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4) 1. d4

Continuations

More English Defense lines (all)

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.