Rat Defense: Spike Attack

1. e4 d6 2. g4

The Rat Defense: Spike Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 d6 2. g4. It is a line of the Rat Defense. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 70 times by this move order. White won 43%, 3% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nf6 (46% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.68 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 2… d5 3. h3 dxe4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nxe4)

ECO: B00
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/3p4/8/4P1P1/8/PPPP1P1P/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. e4 d6 2. g4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	50	42%54%
1500-1999	18	44%56%
2000+	2	50%50%
All	70	43%54%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nf6	32 (46%)	34%63%
2… e5	10 (14%)	50%50%
2… g6	9 (13%)	67%33%
2… c6	4 (6%)	75%25%
2… c5	3 (4%)	33%67%
2… h6	3 (4%)	67%33%
2… e6	2 (3%)	50%50%
2… Nc6	2 (3%)	50%50%

Master games

1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:

Avi Harrison Kaplan (2103) – CM Ilya Khakhinov (2236) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st May Late · 2024-05-21

Search all games of the Rat Defense: Spike Attack and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

SveinDa (1999) – mohsen5157m (2062) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
SemionSemionowich (2039) – Have_a_good_day777 (1963) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
janko52 (2008) – AlexsandrMironov (1990) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s

Comes from

Pirc Defense (1. e4 d6) 1. e4 d6

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.