Polish Opening, with d5 (1. b4 d5)

1. b4 d5

The Polish Opening, with d5 is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. b4 d5. White is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 12,453 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2. Bb2 (87% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.08 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3 e5 4. Nxe5 Bxb4)

ECO: A00
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/1P6/8/P1PPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. b4 d5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	4,444	51%45%
1500-1999	7,115	51%45%
2000+	894	51%43%
All	12,453	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. Bb2	10,824 (87%)	52%44%
2. b5	535 (4%)	46%50%
2. a3	217 (2%)	47%48%
2. e3	216 (2%)	56%40%
2. Nf3 Santasiere's Folly	114 (1%)	43%52%
2. c3	109 (1%)	40%12%48%
2. d4	98 (1%)	38%57%
2. a4	74 (1%)	41%54%

Master games

548 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 18%, Black 40%). The strongest:

GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) – GM So, W. (2770) 0-1 · FTX Crypto Cup KO 2021 · 2021-05-31
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) – GM Yangyi Yu (2720) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-04
GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) – GM So, W. (2771) 1/2-1/2 · CGC KO 2022 · 2022-11-03
GM Nigel D Short (2683) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2782) 0-1 · 5th Classic GpD 2013 · 2013-12-11
GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Evgeny Postny (2599) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Mar Late · 2024-03-19

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nut5105 (2688) – vwemby (2632) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
sunchess137 (2641) – FM The_Fawkes (2634) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Fraysinator (2672) – Lauris_Laimins (2568) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Polish Opening 1. b4

Continuations

Zukertort Opening: Santasiere's Folly A06 · 1. b4 d5 2. Nf3
Polish Opening: Baltic Defense A00 · 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Bf5
Polish Opening: German Defense A00 · 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Qd6
Polish Opening, with d5 (2… Nf6 3. Nf3) A00 · 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. Nf3
Polish Opening: Myers Variation A00 · 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 c6 3. a4

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.