Sicilian Defense: Closed, Botvinnik Defense, with Nge2
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nge2 e5
The Sicilian Defense: Closed, Botvinnik Defense, with Nge2 is a chess opening classified as ECO B25, reached after 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nge2 e5. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 9 times by this move order. White won 22%, 11% were drawn and Black won 67%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 7. Nd5 Nge7 8. Nec3 O-O 9. Bg5 f6)
- ECO
- B25
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pp3pbp/2np2p1/2p1p3/4P3/2NP2P1/PPP1NPBP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nge2 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 9 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 5 (56%) | |
| 7. Nd5 | 2 (22%) | |
| 7. Be3 | 2 (22%) |
Master games
67 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 25%, draw 29%, Black 46%). The strongest:
- GM Nihal Sarin (2692) – GM Anish Giri (2748) 1/2-1/2 · Quantbox Chennai GM 2025 · 2025-08-08
- GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2649) – GM Kiril Georgiev (2636) 1/2-1/2 · 12th Bergamo Open · 2013-07-21
- Azamat Utegaliyev (2447) – IM Rudik Makarian (2502) 1/2-1/2 · Chelyabinskiy Variant A · 2022-04-04
- GM Ruifeng Li (2559) – Jack Zhu (2364) 1-0 · 28th North American Open · 2018-12-29
- GM Roeland Pruijssers (2519) – GM Thomas Ernst (2355) 1/2-1/2 · Bodensee Open 2018 · 2018-05-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NM ToyTiko (2481) – IM Lenyas66 (2616) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- VoinTeka (2552) – Sawa-169 (2518) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- FreundSpatz (2331) – PurpleInferno (2507) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Sicilian Defense: Closed (5. d3 d6) 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6
More Sicilian Defense lines (all)
- Sicilian Defense (1. e4 c5) B20
- Sicilian Defense: Amazon Attack B20
- Sicilian Defense: Big Clamp Formation B20
- Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack B20
- Sicilian Defense: Brick Variation B20
- Sicilian Defense: Czerniak Attack B20
- Sicilian Defense: Czerniak Attack, Queen Fianchetto Variation B20
- Sicilian Defense: Euwe Attack, Prins Gambit B20
- Sicilian Defense: Gloria Variation B20
- Sicilian Defense: Grob Variation B20
- Sicilian Defense: Keres Variation B20
- Sicilian Defense: King David's Opening B20
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.