Van't Kruijs Opening: Bouncing Bishop Variation
1. e3 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bb3
The Van't Kruijs Opening: Bouncing Bishop Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. e3 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bb3. It is a line of the Van't Kruijs Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4 times by this move order. White won 75%, 25% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 3… a6 (25% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.73 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3… Bb7 4. Nf3 c5 5. d3 e4 6. Nfd2)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pp1ppp/8/1p2p3/8/1B2P3/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e3 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bb3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… a6 | 1 (25%) | |
| 3… d6 | 1 (25%) | |
| 3… e4 | 1 (25%) | |
| 3… Bb7 | 1 (25%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- AP_AVYUKT (1058) – Rooban2016 (1047) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 1800 + 0s
- amil_fex30 (1137) – cristophergnacio (787) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 2s
- Damian22026 (918) – manojc_2003 (788) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Van't Kruijs Opening 1. e3
More Van't Kruijs 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.