Torre Attack: Classical Defense, Nimzowitsch Variation

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6

The Torre Attack: Classical Defense, Nimzowitsch Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A46, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6. It is a line of the Torre Attack. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 358 times by this move order. White won 49%, 8% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bh4 (73% of games).

Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 4. Bh4 c5 5. c3 d5 6. Nbd2 cxd4)

ECO: A46
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pppp1pp1/4pn1p/6B1/3P4/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RN1QKB1R w KQkq - 0 4
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 h6

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	44	59%36%
1500-1999	150	54%39%
2000+	164	42%49%
All	358	49%43%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. Bh4	262 (73%)	53%40%
4. Bxf6	77 (22%)	40%51%
4. Bf4	11 (3%)	36%64%
4. Nc3	3 (1%)	67%33%
4. e3	2 (1%)	100%
4. Bd2	2 (1%)	50%50%
4. h3	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

1,593 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 23%, Black 44%). The strongest:

GM So, W. (2815) – GM Anish Giri (2785) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2017-05-25
GM Vladislav Artemiev (2709) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1/2-1/2 · DM Carlsen-Artemiev 2021 · 2021-04-21
GM Pentala Harikrishna (2763) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) 0-1 · chess.com QF Blitz 5m+2spm 2016 · 2016-05-04
GM So, W. (2765) – GM Vincent Keymer (2767) 1-0 · GCT Finals 2026 · 2026-08-27
GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Anton Korobov (2698) 1-0 · World Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-30

Search all games of the Torre Attack: Classical Defense, Nimzowitsch Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

CHILOSCA (2648) – oldandnotcold (2650) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Natah_Flo (2676) – Andriy_2007 (2565) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
NM ChessOKRU (2584) – IM Gorbaev (2626) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s

Comes from

Torre Attack: Classical Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5

More Torre Attack 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.