Polish Opening, with d5 (2… Nf6 3. Nf3)

1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3

The Polish Opening, with d5 is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 492 times by this move order. White won 48%, 6% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3… e6 (30% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.07 (Stockfish, depth 67; best line 3… e5 4. Nxe5 Bxb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2)

ECO: A00
Moves: 5 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/1P6/5N2/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKB1R b KQkq - 3 3
PGN: 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	113	47%50%
1500-1999	314	50%45%
2000+	65	45%49%
All	492	48%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3… e6	150 (30%)	53%43%
3… Bf5	87 (18%)	44%49%
3… Bg4	67 (14%)	52%42%
3… Nc6	53 (11%)	58%40%
3… g6	42 (9%)	43%55%
3… c6	22 (4%)	36%14%50%
3… Nbd7	21 (4%)	38%57%
3… a6	18 (4%)	39%56%

Master games

102 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 17%, Black 41%). The strongest:

GM Magnus Carlsen (2829) – IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg (2441) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Nov Early · 2023-11-21
GM Nihal Sarin (2673) – GM Zbigniew Pakleza (2494) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th May Early · 2023-05-16
IM Ashot Nadanian (2428) – GM Mikhail Kobalia (2651) 1-0 · FIDE World Blitz 2013 · 2013-06-10
IM Tamas Meszaros (2369) – GM Maxim Matlakov (2673) 1/2-1/2 · ch-HUN Rapid 2023 · 2023-07-21
GM Shant Sargsyan (2666) – FM Piotr Dudzinski (2335) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Mar Late · 2025-03-11

Search all games of the Polish Opening, with d5 and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Fraysinator (2672) – Lauris_Laimins (2568) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Fraysinator (2695) – SHEFFFF (2528) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
NotThinkingStraight (2244) – IM Klimenko_Sergey_IM (2370) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s

Comes from

Polish Opening, with d5 (1. b4 d5) 1. b4 d5

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.