Kádas Opening: Koola-Koola Variation
1. h4 a5
The Kádas Opening: Koola-Koola Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. h4 a5. It is a line of the Kádas Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 134 times by this move order. White won 43%, 13% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 2. h5 (21% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 d5)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/1ppppppp/8/p7/7P/8/PPPPPPP1/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. h4 a5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 86 | |
| 1500-1999 | 35 | |
| 2000+ | 13 | |
| All | 134 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. h5 | 28 (21%) | |
| 2. a4 | 22 (16%) | |
| 2. Rh3 | 14 (10%) | |
| 2. g4 | 13 (10%) | |
| 2. g3 | 11 (8%) | |
| 2. d4 | 9 (7%) | |
| 2. Nf3 | 7 (5%) | |
| 2. e4 | 6 (4%) |
Master games
39 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 13%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) – GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (2540) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Apr Late · 2024-04-23
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) – GM Mamikon Gharibyan (2492) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st May Late · 2024-05-21
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2673) 1-0 · Levitov Bortnyk-Mamedov · 2021-10-07
- GM Awonder Liang (2687) – IM Florian Kaczur (2504) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Dec Late · 2024-12-10
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2695) – FM Vjacheslav Weetik (2423) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Dec Early · 2024-12-10
Search all games of the Kádas Opening: Koola-Koola Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM Kostik_Mostik (2912) – Kruciatos (2712) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Lifvix01 (2794) – GM sillyMASTER (2814) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- shojaeiiman (2240) – Oakenshield1983 (2181) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Kádas Opening 1. h4
More Kádas 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.