Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Santasiere Variation
1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. c4
The Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Santasiere Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B20, reached after 1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. c4. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 22 times by this move order. White won 50%, 5% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3… bxc3 (68% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.99 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3… e5 4. a3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bc5 6. axb4)
- ECO
- B20
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/8/1pP1P3/8/P2P1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq c3 0 3- PGN
1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. c4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 13 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 22 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… bxc3 | 15 (68%) | |
| 3… e6 | 2 (9%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 2 (9%) | |
| 3… a5 | 1 (5%) | |
| 3… d6 | 1 (5%) | |
| 3… e5 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- Eugenijus Zygmanta (1978) – Lukas Stauskas (2122) 0-1 · TCh-LTU 2016 · 2016-04-02
Search all games of the Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Santasiere Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- lihoffa (2259) – prochess62 (2186) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- SaMmSsInG (2057) – Abizar79 (2072) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- SaMmSsInG (2010) – steph01 (2087) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit 1. e4 c5 2. b4
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.