Queen's Pawn Game: Zukertort Variation (1… d5 2. Nf3)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3
The Queen's Pawn Game: Zukertort Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D02, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3. It is a line of the Queen's Pawn Game. Black is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 245,915 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nf6 (30% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 58; best line 2… Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2)
- ECO
- D02
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/3P4/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 95,901 | |
| 1500-1999 | 117,229 | |
| 2000+ | 32,785 | |
| All | 245,915 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… Nf6 Symmetrical Variation | 74,682 (30%) | |
| 2… Nc6 Chigorin Variation (2. Nf3 Nc6) | 53,169 (22%) | |
| 2… e6 | 39,064 (16%) | |
| 2… Bf5 | 26,097 (11%) | |
| 2… c6 | 16,380 (7%) | |
| 2… Bg4 | 12,503 (5%) | |
| 2… c5 Krause Variation | 11,247 (5%) | |
| 2… f6 | 3,217 (1%) |
Master games
12,052 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 21%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-06
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-06
- KomodoMCTS 2503.05 (3809) – Fire 021819 (3752) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-23
- Fire 021819 (3752) – KomodoMCTS 2503.05 (3809) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-21
- Komodo 2522.05 (3794) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3746) 1/2-1/2 · 5th TCEC Cup 2020 · 2020-04-26
Search all games of the Queen's Pawn Game: Zukertort Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- winx_m (2946) – GM Chewbacca18 (2795) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- GM gmbrewchess (2971) – FM juancruzariasTDF (2761) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM Fabsid (2797) – GM Peacefulwarrior1996 (2843) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4 d5) 1. d4 d5
Continuations
- Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation (2. Nf3 Nc6) D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6
- Queen's Pawn Game: Krause Variation D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5
- Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6
- Queen's Pawn Game: London System, with e6 (2… e6 3. Bf4) D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Pseudo-Slav D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Bf5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 c6
- Queen's Pawn Game: Levitsky Attack, Euwe Variation, Modern Line D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg5 h6 4. Bh4 Qb6
More Queen's Pawn Game lines (all)
- Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4) A40
- Queen's Pawn Game: Anglo-Slav Opening A40
- Queen's Pawn Game: Modern Defense A40
- Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4 d6) A41
- Queen's Pawn Game: Rossolimo Variation A41
- Queen's Pawn Game: Liedmann Gambit A43
- Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation (2. Nc3 d5) A45
- Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov, Richter Attack A45
- Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack, Breyer Variation A46
- Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense A46
- Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (3… d5 4. Bf4) A48
- Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (4. Bf4 Bg7) A48
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.