Kangaroo Defense
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+
The Kangaroo Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+. 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 2,567 times by this move order. White won 54%, 4% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nc3 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.33 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3. Bd2 a5 4. a3 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 Nf6)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/1bPP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,168 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,105 | |
| 2000+ | 294 | |
| All | 2,567 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Nc3 Keres Defense, Transpositional Variation | 1,348 (53%) | |
| 3. Bd2 | 1,084 (42%) | |
| 3. Nd2 | 132 (5%) | |
| 3. Qd2 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
2,472 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 32%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-03-29
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-03-29
- Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) – KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-09
- KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) – Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-08
- KomodoDragon 3.2 (3569) – Stockfish dev-20230308-39da50e (3607) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-04-06
Search all games of the Kangaroo Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM tjychess (2849) – laogun (2622) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- IM roggefeller (2743) – laogun (2602) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- GM Jaguar_92 (2699) – biologia99 (2588) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Horwitz Defense 1. d4 e6
Continuations
- Kangaroo Defense: Keres Defense, Transpositional Variation A40 · 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3
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.