Rat Defense: English Rat
1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5
The Rat Defense: English Rat is a chess opening classified as ECO A41, reached after 1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5. It is a line of the Rat Defense. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4,506 times by this move order. White won 46%, 6% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 3. dxe5 (43% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nbd7)
- ECO
- A41
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/3p4/4p3/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 916 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,963 | |
| 2000+ | 1,627 | |
| All | 4,506 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. dxe5 | 1,929 (43%) | |
| 3. d5 | 885 (20%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 623 (14%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 553 (12%) | |
| 3. e3 | 429 (10%) | |
| 3. e4 | 46 (1%) | |
| 3. g3 | 22 (0%) | |
| 3. Qa4+ | 5 (0%) |
Master games
4,639 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 20%, Black 51%). The strongest:
- GM Aleksey Dreev (2667) – GM Levon Aronian (2815) 1-0 · FIDE World Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-19
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Levon Aronian (2724) 0-1 · Titled Tue 30th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-30
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) – GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2598) 1-0 · Katara Bullet Final 2021 · 2021-06-23
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2718) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2709) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-30
- GM Aleksey Dreev (2664) – GM Peter Svidler (2759) 0-1 · Eurasian Blitz Chess Cup · 2016-06-19
Search all games of the Rat Defense: English Rat and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NameTheGame (2706) – lestri (2653) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Egor_Kharitonov (2586) – gmcyborek (2764) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- reallylovezerk (2709) – xiangzichess (2626) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Old Indian Defense (1… d6 2. c4) 1. d4 d6 2. c4
Continuations
- Rat Defense: English Rat, Lisbon Gambit A41 · 1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Nc6
- Rat Defense: English Rat, Pounds Gambit A41 · 1. d4 d6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Be6
More Rat Defense lines (all)
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.