Lion Defense: Lion's Jaw
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3
The Lion Defense: Lion's Jaw is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3. It is a line of the Lion Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,898 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3… g6 (59% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 3… e6 4. Be3 a6 5. c3 Be7 6. Bd3)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/3p1n2/8/3PP3/5P2/PPP3PP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,002 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,250 | |
| 2000+ | 646 | |
| All | 2,898 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… g6 | 1,701 (59%) | |
| 3… c6 | 378 (13%) | |
| 3… e5 | 269 (9%) | |
| 3… Nbd7 | 243 (8%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 85 (3%) | |
| 3… e6 | 62 (2%) | |
| 3… c5 | 49 (2%) | |
| 3… b6 | 24 (1%) |
Master games
1,266 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 20%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5107404-T2-5230000 (3633) – KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5107404-T2-5230000 (3633) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- RubiChess 20230823 (3508) – Stockfish dev-20230903-b25d68f6 (3666) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- Stockfish dev-20230903-b25d68f6 (3666) – RubiChess 20230823 (3508) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) – GM Levon Aronian (2721) 0-1 · Saint Louis Blitz 2026 · 2026-08-05
Search all games of the Lion Defense: Lion's Jaw and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- sunchess137 (2656) – johnsam1 (2735) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- IM Jamorris94 (2762) – FM Magek (2609) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- JelenaZ (2617) – FM umagon20 (2735) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Pirc Defense (2. d4 Nf6) 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6
More Lion Defense 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.