Goldsmith Defense

1. e4 h5

The Goldsmith Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 h5. 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 6,908 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (35% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.97 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2. d4 e6 3. Bd3 d5 4. exd5 exd5)

ECO: B00
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppppppp1/8/7p/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. e4 h5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	4,372	54%43%
1500-1999	2,220	52%44%
2000+	316	57%40%
All	6,908	53%43%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. d4	2,437 (35%)	54%43%
2. Nf3	1,821 (26%)	53%43%
2. Bc4	782 (11%)	56%40%
2. Nc3	448 (6%)	50%46%
2. f4	261 (4%)	53%44%
2. Qf3	169 (2%)	57%41%
2. h4	164 (2%)	59%38%
2. d3	162 (2%)	48%49%

Master games

215 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 6%, Black 56%). The strongest:

GM So, W. (2767) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-11-19
GM Anish Giri (2774) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-12-06
GM Peter Svidler (2694) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-11-12
GM Peter Svidler (2694) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-11-12
GM Anton Demchenko (2611) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2710) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th May 2026 · 2026-05-12

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

FM dclasby (2760) – kasparik_garik (2632) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
puretraining (2584) – ramsou (2601) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
CapybaraMelon (2542) – Washington91 (2567) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4) 1. e4

Continuations

Goldsmith Defense: Picklepuss Defense B00 · 1. e4 h5 2. 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.