Grob Opening

1. g4

The Grob Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. g4. Black is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 36,292 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 1… d5 (36% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.96 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 1… d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 c6 4. Qb3)

ECO: A00
Moves: 1 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/6P1/8/PPPPPP1P/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1
PGN: 1. g4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	15,113	47%49%
1500-1999	18,365	51%45%
2000+	2,814	48%48%
All	36,292	49%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
1… d5	13,015 (36%)	50%46%
1… e5	10,400 (29%)	48%48%
1… e6	2,234 (6%)	50%46%
1… c5	2,124 (6%)	47%48%
1… c6	1,591 (4%)	48%48%
1… g6	1,471 (4%)	47%49%
1… d6	1,435 (4%)	48%48%
1… Nc6	909 (3%)	45%51%

Master games

1,575 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 7%, Black 43%). The strongest:

GM Magnus Carlsen (2856) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 11th Oct Late · 2022-10-11
GM Magnus Carlsen (2856) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2688) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Oct Late · 2022-10-11
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774) – GM Yi Wei (2721) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-09-03
GM Yi Wei (2721) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-09-03
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774) – GM Yi Wei (2721) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-09-03

Search all games of the Grob Opening and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

MeeTion01 (2889) – Knightrider6767 (2744) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
MeeTion01 (2844) – Brave_spirit_07 (2747) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
sunchess137 (2630) – FM The_Fawkes (2646) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s

Continuations

Grob Opening: Alessi Gambit A00 · 1. g4 f5
Grob Opening: Double Grob A00 · 1. g4 g5
Grob Opening: Grob Gambit A00 · 1. g4 d5 2. Bg2
Grob Opening: London Defense A00 · 1. g4 e5 2. h3 Nc6
Grob Opening: Spike, Hurst Attack A00 · 1. g4 e5 2. Bg2 d5 3. c4
Grob Opening: Zilbermints Gambit A00 · 1. g4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3
Grob Opening: Keene Defense A00 · 1. g4 d5 2. h3 e5 3. Bg2 c6

More Grob Opening 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.