Polish Opening: German Defense
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6
The Polish Opening: German Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6. 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 137 times by this move order. White won 50%, 3% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. a3 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3. a3 Nf6 4. Nf3 a5 5. b5 Nbd7)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnb1kbnr/ppp1pppp/3q4/3p4/1P6/8/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKBNR w KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 35 | |
| 1500-1999 | 64 | |
| 2000+ | 38 | |
| All | 137 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. a3 | 82 (60%) | |
| 3. b5 | 40 (29%) | |
| 3. e3 | 6 (4%) | |
| 3. Ba3 | 3 (2%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 3 (2%) | |
| 3. c3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
87 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 16%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) – GM Leandro Krysa (2545) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Nov Late · 2023-11-21
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) – GM Krzysztof Jakubowski (2471) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Nov Late · 2023-11-21
- IM Alfonso Llorente Zaro (2440) – GM Roman Ovetchkin (2507) 1-0 · Titled Tue 1st Oct Early · 2024-10-01
- GM Shant Sargsyan (2660) – FM Jaroslav Sobek (2198) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Feb Late · 2025-02-18
- IM Roman Kezin (2507) – IM Mads Vestby-Ellingsen (2350) 1-0 · Titled Tue 29th Aug Early · 2023-08-29
Search all games of the Polish Opening: German Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fraysinator (2699) – gomelbel (2501) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- CM Benoit33 (2353) – alesdr2024 (2360) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Zendayak (2260) – ikey80 (2386) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Polish Opening, with d5 (1. b4 d5) 1. b4 d5
More Polish Opening lines (all)
- Polish Opening A00
- Polish Opening: Baltic Defense 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: 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.