Polish Opening: Czech Defense
1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6
The Polish Opening: Czech Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6. 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 6,036 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. e3 (39% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. c4 Be7 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e3 O-O)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/3p4/4p3/1P6/8/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,719 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,845 | |
| 2000+ | 472 | |
| All | 6,036 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. e3 | 2,349 (39%) | |
| 3. c4 | 983 (16%) | |
| 3. b5 | 688 (11%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 538 (9%) | |
| 3. e4 | 355 (6%) | |
| 3. d4 | 296 (5%) | |
| 3. a3 | 255 (4%) | |
| 3. g3 | 199 (3%) |
Master games
429 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 16%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2710) – GM Li Chao2 (2751) 1-0 · IMSA Blitz 2016 · 2016-02-29
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2725) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2672) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 9th Mar · 2021-03-09
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2659) – GM Paulius Pultinevicius (2575) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th Jan Early · 2024-01-30
- GM Karen H. Grigoryan (2608) – GM Jules Moussard (2608) 1-0 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2019-10-14
- GM Karen H. Grigoryan (2608) – GM Jules Moussard (2608) 0-1 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2019-10-14
Search all games of the Polish Opening: Czech Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fraysinator (2721) – KhatanbaatarGM (2726) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Fraysinator (2704) – KhatanbaatarGM (2724) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Fraysinator (2700) – Soup_Maktavish_t (2628) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 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: Bugayev Attack 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.