Modern Defense: Geller's System
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3
The Modern Defense: Geller's System is a chess opening classified as ECO B07, reached after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3. It is a line of the Modern Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 620 times by this move order. White won 46%, 5% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nf6 (43% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 4… Nc6 5. d5 Ne5 6. Nxe5 Bxe5 7. Be2)
- ECO
- B07
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp1ppbp/3p2p1/8/3PP3/2P2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 132 | |
| 1500-1999 | 390 | |
| 2000+ | 98 | |
| All | 620 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nf6 | 268 (43%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 79 (13%) | |
| 4… Nd7 | 77 (12%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 58 (9%) | |
| 4… a6 | 36 (6%) | |
| 4… c6 | 28 (5%) | |
| 4… e6 | 23 (4%) | |
| 4… c5 | 9 (1%) |
Master games
593 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 25%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2784) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2752) 1-0 · chess.com QF Blitz 1m+1spm 2016 · 2016-04-06
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) – GM Awonder Liang (2719) 1/2-1/2 · American Cup Champ · 2026-03-06
- GM Hans Moke Niemann (2736) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2757) 0-1 · Titled Tue 3rd Jan Late · 2025-06-03
- GM Borki Predojevic (2640) – GM Levon Aronian (2795) 0-1 · Bundesliga 2016-17 · 2017-04-30
- GM Evgeny Alekseev (2683) – GM Peter Svidler (2747) 0-1 · St Petersburg Rapid Cup 2012 · 2012-10-05
Search all games of the Modern Defense: Geller's System and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM ALPH40 (2536) – Brokeno_smekla (2705) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Zalameroo (2603) – Bebas_BKD (2536) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- zero0121 (2492) – DoubleHelix2 (2619) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Modern Defense (2. d4 Bg7) 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7
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.