Owen Defense

1. e4 b6

Owen Defense after 1. e4 b6 87654321abcdefgh

The Owen Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 b6. White is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 138,927 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (42% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.68 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 d5 4. e5 Qd7)

ECO
B00
Moves
2 plies
FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pppppp/1p6/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN
1. e4 b6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average ratingGamesWhite / draw / Black
0-149954,66250%47%
1500-199975,80950%46%
2000+8,45651%44%
All138,92750%46%

Most played moves

MoveGamesWhite / draw / Black
2. d457,971 (42%)51%45%
2. Nf337,503 (27%)50%46%
2. Bc413,104 (9%)49%48%
2. Nc310,875 (8%)50%46%
2. f44,986 (4%)51%45%
2. d33,736 (3%)47%48%
2. Qf31,890 (1%)47%49%
2. g31,367 (1%)51%45%

Master games

6,075 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 13%, Black 40%). The strongest:

Search all games of the Owen Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4) 1. e4

Continuations

More Owen 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.