Modern Defense: Mongredien Defense, with Nf3
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6
The Modern Defense: Mongredien Defense, with Nf3 is a chess opening classified as ECO B06, reached after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6. 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 2,667 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nc3 (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.23 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 4. Nc3 d6 5. e5 Bb7 6. Bb5+ c6)
- ECO
- B06
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/p1ppppbp/1p4p1/8/3PP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 999 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,561 | |
| 2000+ | 107 | |
| All | 2,667 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nc3 | 921 (35%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 539 (20%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 306 (11%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 232 (9%) | |
| 4. c4 | 232 (9%) | |
| 4. c3 | 112 (4%) | |
| 4. e5 | 84 (3%) | |
| 4. Be2 | 47 (2%) |
Master games
37 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 19%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2766) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-13
- GM Anish Giri (2760) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) 1-0 · AI Cup Div 1 L · 2023-09-26
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2732) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2719) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2023 · 2023-08-11
- GM Evgeny Alekseev (2622) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2731) 1/2-1/2 · ch-RUS Rapid 2017 · 2017-10-01
- GM Mateusz Bartel (2621) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2726) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 5th Sep Late · 2023-09-05
Search all games of the Modern Defense: Mongredien Defense, with Nf3 and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM Zeveraar-Glen (2634) – stepbyestep (2566) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Shahin_Za_Shiraz (2543) – SDM08 (2531) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- BlitzRoadTo2600 (2512) – SDM08 (2538) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 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.