Polish Opening: Queenside Defense
1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. b5 a6
The Polish Opening: Queenside Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. b5 a6. It is a line of the Polish Opening. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 167 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4. a4 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 4. a4 d5 5. e3 Bd6 6. Nf3 O-O)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/1ppp1ppp/p3pn2/1P6/8/8/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. b5 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 20 | |
| 1500-1999 | 120 | |
| 2000+ | 27 | |
| All | 167 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. a4 | 95 (57%) | |
| 4. c4 | 41 (25%) | |
| 4. e3 | 25 (15%) | |
| 4. bxa6 | 3 (2%) | |
| 4. Bxf6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4. b6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4. h4 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
14 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 21%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- IM Mark Timmermans (2385) – GM Alexey Sarana (2649) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 13th Apr · 2021-04-13
- IM Mark Timmermans (2385) – GM Giga Quparadze (2476) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 28th Sept · 2021-09-28
- FM Ivan Martic (2280) – IM Aaditya Dhingra (2495) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th Apr Early · 2024-04-09
- IM Yuliia Osmak (2425) – WGM Thi Kim Phung Vo (2335) 1-0 · Women's Speed Chess Q3 · 2021-05-30
- IM Mark Timmermans (2400) – FM Alexander Herbrig (2295) 0-1 · Titled Tue 8th Oct Late · 2024-10-08
Search all games of the Polish Opening: Queenside Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fraysinator (2705) – StoleLaf (2573) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- DragonsWarrior2080 (2350) – CipolloMarini (2354) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
- Eyes-0pen (2289) – MarinovicBozo (2407) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Polish Opening 1. b4
Continuations
- Polish Opening: Rooks Swap Line A00 · 1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. b5 a6 4. a4 axb5 5. axb5 Rxa1 6. Bxa1
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: 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.