Modern Defense: Bishop Attack
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4
The Modern Defense: Bishop Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B06, reached after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4. It is a line of the Modern Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,470 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3… d6 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 3… c5 4. c3 cxd4 5. cxd4 d5 6. exd5)
- ECO
- B06
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppppppbp/6p1/8/2BPP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQK1NR b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 330 | |
| 1500-1999 | 838 | |
| 2000+ | 302 | |
| All | 1,470 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d6 | 540 (37%) | |
| 3… e6 | 433 (29%) | |
| 3… c6 | 128 (9%) | |
| 3… c5 | 104 (7%) | |
| 3… b6 | 82 (6%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 62 (4%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 41 (3%) | |
| 3… e5 | 21 (1%) |
Master games
277 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 12%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2727) – GM Nihal Sarin (2694) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2731) – GM Luca Jr Moroni (2550) 1-0 · World Blitz 2024 · 2024-12-30
- IM Vignesh N R (2473) – GM David W L Howell (2667) 0-1 · Titled Tue 27th Sep Early · 2022-09-27
- GM Leandro Krysa (2538) – GM Luca Jr Moroni (2578) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Mar Early · 2023-03-21
- IM Marta Garcia Martin (2331) – GM David Anton Guijarro (2679) 0-1 · Sabrina Invitational 2021 · 2021-02-28
Search all games of the Modern Defense: Bishop Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- LUCENA-H (2415) – damithk (2457) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Lord_Ba3lish (2412) – the_eye_of_the_sibyl (2434) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Bruto130199 (2383) – ericlgame (2428) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Modern Defense (2. d4 Bg7) 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7
Continuations
- Modern Defense: Bishop Attack, Bücker Gambit B06 · 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4 b5
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: Beefeater Variation A40
- 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
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.