Polish Opening: Zukertort System
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b4 g6 3. Bb2
The Polish Opening: Zukertort System is a chess opening classified as ECO A05, reached after 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b4 g6 3. Bb2. It is a line of the Polish Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 51 times by this move order. White won 41%, 6% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 3… Bg7 (94% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3… Bg7 4. c4 a5 5. a3 axb4 6. axb4)
- ECO
- A05
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppppp1p/5np1/8/1P6/5N2/PBPPPPPP/RN1QKB1R b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b4 g6 3. Bb2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 22 | |
| 2000+ | 27 | |
| All | 51 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Bg7 | 48 (94%) | |
| 3… a5 | 2 (4%) | |
| 3… d5 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
81 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 16%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2610) – GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) 0-1 · Chess.com Open PlayIn2 · 2026-03-18
- GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2615) – GM Elham Amar (2592) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2025 · 2025-12-29
- GM Yunguo Wan (2508) – GM Qun Ma (2627) 0-1 · ch-CHN Blitz 2019 · 2019-12-18
- IM Lennis Martinez Ramirez (2442) – GM Anton Demchenko (2619) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th Jun Late · 2025-06-17
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – Aziz Degenbaev (2227) 1-0 · Titled Tue 20th Feb Late · 2024-02-20
Search all games of the Polish Opening: Zukertort System and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- boureanualina2007 (2549) – Fiepsi (2587) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- FlagFreak (2511) – MrTroutstanding (2504) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- sack11 (2443) – SolaceOfNight (2517) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 Nf6) 1. Nf3 Nf6
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: 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
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.