King's Pawn Opening
1. e4 e5 2. b3
The King's Pawn Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO C20, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. b3. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5,274 times by this move order. White won 47%, 4% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nc6 (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.54 (Stockfish, depth 49; best line 2… Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxe4 4. Bb2 d5 5. d3)
- ECO
- C20
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4P3/1P6/P1PP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. b3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2,929 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,238 | |
| 2000+ | 107 | |
| All | 5,274 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… Nc6 | 1,835 (35%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 1,394 (26%) | |
| 2… Bc5 | 591 (11%) | |
| 2… d6 | 536 (10%) | |
| 2… d5 | 282 (5%) | |
| 2… Qf6 | 103 (2%) | |
| 2… f5 | 76 (1%) | |
| 2… g6 | 68 (1%) |
Master games
35 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 9%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Alexandr Fier (2569) – WGM Baira Kovanova (2342) 0-1 · Titled Tue 15th Mar Late · 2022-03-15
- IM Eric Lawson (2371) – FM Evgeny V. Melikhov (2269) 1-0 · Titled Tue 25th Oct Early · 2022-10-25
- FM Todd Andrews (2140) – GM Kevin Joel Cori Quispe (2464) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Jan Early · 2025-01-07
- IM Alexey Chos (2296) – FM Piotr Lopusiewicz (2301) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Nov Late · 2023-11-28
- CM Aytug Celal Salci (2141) – CM Denis K Dupuis (2217) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 30th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-30
Search all games of the King's Pawn Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- rupke (2459) – FM sergeikim2003 (2537) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Ganilalinovci (2229) – ikey80 (2408) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- Ajack-David (2294) – Ngong-A (2303) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) 1. e4 e5
More King's Pawn 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.