Three Knights Opening: Winawer Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 f5
The Three Knights Opening: Winawer Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C46, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 f5. It is a line of the Three Knights Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,165 times by this move order. White won 48%, 3% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4. exf5 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.42 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxf5 d5)
- ECO
- C46
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp2pp/2n5/4pp2/4P3/2N2N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 f5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,118 | |
| 1500-1999 | 910 | |
| 2000+ | 137 | |
| All | 2,165 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. exf5 | 959 (44%) | |
| 4. d3 | 350 (16%) | |
| 4. d4 | 324 (15%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 220 (10%) | |
| 4. Bb5 | 219 (10%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 33 (2%) | |
| 4. a3 | 11 (1%) | |
| 4. Be2 | 10 (0%) |
Master games
37 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 14%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2688) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2760) 0-1 · Titled Tue 28th Jun Early · 2022-06-28
- GM Vugar Rasulov (2513) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 17th Jan Late · 2023-01-17
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2724) – IM Thomas Beerdsen (2496) 1-0 · Titled Tue 15th Mar Early · 2022-03-15
- IM Dushyant Sharma (2355) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Mar 2026 · 2026-03-03
- GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2629) – IM Thomas Beerdsen (2453) 0-1 · Titled Arena Apr 3rd 2021 · 2021-04-03
Search all games of the Three Knights Opening: Winawer Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Pijotrek (2356) – damithk (2533) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- bibenbiallahbiliyo (2483) – Megakosmico (2310) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- vulvik1 (2392) – Folke94 (2396) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Three Knights Opening (2… Nc6 3. Nc3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3
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.