Three Knights Opening (3. Nc3 Bb4)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bb4
The Three Knights Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO C46, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bb4. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 12,023 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bc4 (26% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.54 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 4. Nd5 Nf6 5. Nxb4 Nxb4 6. d4 Nxe4)
- ECO
- C46
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/1b2P3/2N2N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 4 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bb4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 8,484 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,367 | |
| 2000+ | 172 | |
| All | 12,023 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Bc4 | 3,120 (26%) | |
| 4. a3 | 2,570 (21%) | |
| 4. Bb5 | 1,829 (15%) | |
| 4. Nd5 | 1,516 (13%) | |
| 4. d3 | 1,239 (10%) | |
| 4. d4 | 1,164 (10%) | |
| 4. Be2 | 144 (1%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 112 (1%) |
Master games
283 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 17%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- GM Maksim Chigaev (2631) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2766) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th May Early · 2022-05-17
- GM Vladimir Zakhartsov (2552) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 23rd May Late · 2023-05-23
- GM Artyom Timofeev (2574) – GM Andrey Esipenko (2723) 0-1 · Titled Tue 19th Apr Late · 2022-04-19
- GM Vladislav Kovalev (2623) – GM Narayanan S L (2662) 1-0 · Chess.com RCC Wk11 Swiss · 2022-04-23
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2713) – GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2554) 1-0 · FIDE World Blitz 2013 · 2013-06-09
Search all games of the Three Knights Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Juplt3rLlk3 (2735) – DiabloDiabloDiablo (2649) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- chessgrandfather1975 (2609) – GM Stoichess (2702) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- altayskiy_shahmatist (2572) – DiabloDiabloDiablo (2654) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Three Knights Opening (2… Nc6 3. Nc3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3
Continuations
- Three Knights Opening: Schlechter Variation C46 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nd5 Nf6
More Three Knights Opening 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.