Modern Defense: Beefeater Variation
1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 f5
The Modern Defense: Beefeater Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 f5. It is a line of the Modern Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 165 times by this move order. White won 49%, 8% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nf3 (28% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.57 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 6. e4 fxe4 7. f3 e5 8. Nh3 d6)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp1pp2p/6p1/2pP1p2/2P5/2P5/P3PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 f5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 48 | |
| 2000+ | 115 | |
| All | 165 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nf3 | 46 (28%) | |
| 6. e4 | 25 (15%) | |
| 6. h4 | 21 (13%) | |
| 6. Qc2 | 14 (8%) | |
| 6. f3 | 14 (8%) | |
| 6. Bg5 | 10 (6%) | |
| 6. g4 | 9 (5%) | |
| 6. g3 | 9 (5%) |
Master games
613 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 15%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2747) – GM Richard Rapport (2754) 1/2-1/2 · Aimchess Rapid KO · 2022-10-19
- GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2630) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 0-1 · Airthings Masters Div 2 W · 2023-02-07
- GM Aleksandar Indjic (2618) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 16th June · 2020-06-16
- GM Mateusz Bartel (2638) – GM Pentala Harikrishna (2709) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2013-14 · 2013-10-12
- GM Alexander Motylev (2640) – GM Alexandr Predke (2676) 1-0 · World Blitz 2019 · 2019-12-29
Search all games of the Modern Defense: Beefeater Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- whopper211 (2684) – GM funny_chess (2641) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- GeForceExperience (2593) – JoannaWo (2614) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Pastukhov_Nicolay (2505) – Alfilparanoico (2487) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Pawn Game: Modern Defense 1. d4 g6
More Modern Defense lines (all)
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Polish Variation A04
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Pterodactyl Variation A04
- Modern Defense: Semi-Averbakh Variation, Pterodactyl Variation Accepted A04
- Modern Defense: Lizard Defense, Pirc-Diemer Gambit A40
- Modern Defense (3. Nc3 d6) A41
- Modern Defense: Neo-Modern Defense A41
- Modern Defense: Averbakh System A42
- Modern Defense: Averbakh Variation, Pseudo-Sämisch A42
- Modern Defense: Kotov Variation A42
- Modern Defense: Randspringer Variation A42
- Modern Defense (1. e4 g6) B06
- Modern Defense (2. d4 Bg7) B06
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.