Lemming Defense
1. e4 Na6
The Lemming Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 Na6. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 941 times by this move order. White won 62%, 4% were drawn and Black won 34%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (28% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.90 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 2. Nc3 c6 3. Bxa6 bxa6 4. Nf3 d5)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppppppp/n7/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 2- PGN
1. e4 Na6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 620 | |
| 1500-1999 | 233 | |
| 2000+ | 88 | |
| All | 941 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. d4 | 259 (28%) | |
| 2. Nf3 | 204 (22%) | |
| 2. Bxa6 | 184 (20%) | |
| 2. Bc4 | 78 (8%) | |
| 2. Nc3 | 63 (7%) | |
| 2. Qh5 | 26 (3%) | |
| 2. Qf3 | 24 (3%) | |
| 2. f4 | 23 (2%) |
Master games
147 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 31%, draw 8%, Black 61%). The strongest:
- GM Anish Giri (2745) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2737) 0-1 · Bullet Chess Losers 2024 · 2024-06-11
- GM Sergei Zhigalko (2572) – GM Daniil Dubov (2707) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st May Late · 2024-05-21
- IM Ivan Bocharov (2563) – GM Daniil Dubov (2703) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-RUS Blitz 2018 · 2018-10-10
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2710) – IM Nikoloz Petriashvili (2512) 1-0 · Titled Tue 24th Feb 2026 · 2026-02-24
- GM Namig Guliyev (2529) – GM Maxime Lagarde (2655) 0-1 · SM Lagarde-Guliyev 2020 · 2020-07-16
Search all games of the Lemming Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Meatloaf927 (2704) – NM StellarChesss (2607) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- puretraining (2605) – kasparik_garik (2626) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- CH-Subject029 (2622) – NM StellarChesss (2597) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Pawn Game (1. e4) 1. e4
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.