Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Traditional Line

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O

The Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Traditional Line is a chess opening classified as ECO B92, reached after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O. 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 197 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 9. Be3 (28% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 9. Qd3 Be6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. Bd2 Rc8)

ECO: B92
Moves: 16 plies
FEN: rnbq1rk1/1p2bppp/p2p1n2/4p3/4P3/1NN5/PPP1BPPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 4 9
PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	2	100%
1500-1999	68	43%56%
2000+	127	51%42%
All	197	49%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
9. Be3	55 (28%)	49%47%
9. f4	50 (25%)	46%50%
9. Kh1	29 (15%)	48%41%
9. Re1	14 (7%)	43%50%
9. h3	11 (6%)	55%45%
9. a4	11 (6%)	64%36%
9. Qd3	10 (5%)	60%30%
9. Bg5	10 (5%)	40%50%

Master games

3,249 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 26%, Black 40%). The strongest:

GM Fabiano Caruana (2819) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2775) 1-0 · GCT Blitz Paris 2019 · 2019-08-01
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) – GM Veselin Topalov (2793) 1-0 · Makedonia Palace GP · 2013-05-29
GM Garry Kasparov (2812) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2738) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Croatia 2021 · 2021-07-11
GM Kirill Alekseenko (2674) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2876) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss · 2019-10-17
GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2747) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2804) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-30

Search all games of the Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation, Traditional Line and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

tourdefra (2727) – David_B0wie (2622) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
pulptimes (2576) – shoprrrw (2641) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
chessruiwang (2558) – Appletwovivian (2619) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Opocensky Variation (5… a6 6. Be2) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2

More Sicilian 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.