Kangaroo Defense: Keres Defense, Transpositional Variation

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3

The Kangaroo Defense: Keres Defense, Transpositional Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3. It is a line of the Kangaroo Defense. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,348 times by this move order. White won 54%, 4% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 3… Bxc3+ (39% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.09 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 3… Nf6 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d5 6. Bd2)

ECO: A40
Moves: 5 plies
FEN: rnbqk1nr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/1bPP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 2 3
PGN: 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	603	53%43%
1500-1999	656	54%41%
2000+	89	51%46%
All	1,348	54%42%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3… Bxc3+	526 (39%)	52%45%
3… Nf6	269 (20%)	57%39%
3… c5	83 (6%)	58%37%
3… d5	66 (5%)	53%42%
3… Nc6	65 (5%)	49%49%
3… Qf6	41 (3%)	39%12%49%
3… b6	41 (3%)	44%49%
3… Ne7	39 (3%)	54%41%

Master games

664 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 31%, draw 24%, Black 45%). The strongest:

GM Matthias Bluebaum (2660) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2779) 1-0 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-08
GM Alexey Sarana (2668) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 0-1 · Chess.com RCC Wk19 Swiss · 2022-07-02
GM Teimour Radjabov (2723) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2667) 1/2-1/2 · Chess Stars 3.0 Blitz · 2023-12-18
GM Matthias Bluebaum (2694) – GM Haik M. Martirosyan (2651) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 18th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-18
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2788) – IM Renato Terry (2522) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Jan Early · 2024-01-23

Search all games of the Kangaroo Defense: Keres Defense, Transpositional Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

JAGMM (2626) – GM Atomrod (2589) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Hungrypawngrabber (2517) – biologia99 (2602) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
FM Kotofeyca (2455) – laogun (2642) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Kangaroo Defense 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+

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.