Polish Opening: Baltic Defense
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Bf5
The Polish Opening: Baltic Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Bf5. It is a line of the Polish Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,342 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3. e3 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.06 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. a3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. c4 a5)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p1b2/1P6/8/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKBNR w KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Bf5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 409 | |
| 1500-1999 | 837 | |
| 2000+ | 96 | |
| All | 1,342 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. e3 | 802 (60%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 291 (22%) | |
| 3. d3 | 77 (6%) | |
| 3. b5 | 42 (3%) | |
| 3. g3 | 40 (3%) | |
| 3. a3 | 29 (2%) | |
| 3. h3 | 22 (2%) | |
| 3. a4 | 13 (1%) |
Master games
166 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 17%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2785) – GM Anish Giri (2768) 1-0 · 11th Norway Blitz 2023 · 2023-05-29
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2647) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Jun Early · 2024-06-11
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Benjamin Bok (2599) 0-1 · Titled Tue 14th May Late · 2024-05-14
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) – GM Gata Kamsky (2663) 0-1 · Titled Tue 28th Mar Late · 2023-03-28
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2757) – GM Benjamin Bok (2592) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Mar Late · 2025-03-11
Search all games of the Polish Opening: Baltic Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ktladla (2268) – Slahiraqi (2262) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
- ktladla (2268) – Slahiraqi (2263) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
- ktladla (2255) – Slahiraqi (2275) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Polish Opening, with d5 (1. b4 d5) 1. b4 d5
More Polish Opening lines (all)
- Polish Opening A00
- Polish Opening: Birmingham Gambit A00
- Polish Opening: Bugayev Advance Variation A00
- Polish Opening: Bugayev Attack A00
- Polish Opening: Czech Defense A00
- Polish Opening: Dutch Defense A00
- Polish Opening: German Defense A00
- Polish Opening: Grigorian Variation A00
- Polish Opening: Karniewski Variation A00
- Polish Opening: King's Indian Variation A00
- Polish Opening: King's Indian Variation, Schiffler Attack A00
- Polish Opening: King's Indian Variation, Sokolsky Attack A00
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.