Polish Opening: Bugayev Attack
1. b4 e5 2. a3
The Polish Opening: Bugayev Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 e5 2. a3. It is a line of the Polish Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,041 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (43% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.28 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 2… d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. c4 a5 5. Bb2)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/1P6/P7/2PPPPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. b4 e5 2. a3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 327 | |
| 1500-1999 | 578 | |
| 2000+ | 136 | |
| All | 1,041 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… d5 | 449 (43%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 168 (16%) | |
| 2… d6 | 91 (9%) | |
| 2… a5 | 65 (6%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 65 (6%) | |
| 2… a6 | 32 (3%) | |
| 2… Qf6 | 29 (3%) | |
| 2… f5 | 27 (3%) |
Master games
202 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 14%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2807) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Aug Early · 2025-08-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Aryan Tari (2623) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 16th Jan Early · 2024-01-16
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Federico Perez Ponsa (2538) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Mar Early · 2024-03-05
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2645) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2655) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Jun Late · 2024-06-04
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Andy Woodward (2536) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Mar Late · 2025-03-04
Search all games of the Polish Opening: Bugayev Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TheQueenlsOverrated (2491) – Badoko (2566) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- koryumskie (2381) – kichot (2484) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- MicDair (2446) – DanDaWall (2343) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Polish Opening 1. b4
More Polish Opening lines (all)
- Polish Opening: Baltic Defense A00
- Polish Opening: Birmingham Gambit A00
- Polish Opening: Bugayev Advance Variation 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
- Polish Opening: Myers Variation 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.