Van't Kruijs Opening
1. e3
The Van't Kruijs Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. e3. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 197,638 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 1… e5 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 1… e6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bd3)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 1 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/4P3/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1- PGN
1. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 110,198 | |
| 1500-1999 | 77,643 | |
| 2000+ | 9,797 | |
| All | 197,638 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1… e5 | 86,861 (44%) | |
| 1… d5 | 39,925 (20%) | |
| 1… e6 | 15,683 (8%) | |
| 1… c5 | 15,211 (8%) | |
| 1… c6 | 8,673 (4%) | |
| 1… Nf6 | 7,841 (4%) | |
| 1… g6 | 6,726 (3%) | |
| 1… d6 | 5,685 (3%) |
Master games
3,476 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 13%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-05
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-05
- LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-17
- Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) – LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-17
- Berserk20250622 (3650) – Obsidiandev-16.14 (3645) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
Search all games of the Van't Kruijs Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM Dr_Tiger (2949) – Sunrise34 (2905) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- IM Kostik_Mostik (2902) – IM shuriks91 (2803) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2827) – FM Guary1 (2802) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Continuations
- Van't Kruijs Opening: Bouncing Bishop Variation A00 · 1. e3 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bb3
- Van't Kruijs Opening: Keoni-Hiva Gambit, Akahi Variation A00 · 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
- Van't Kruijs Opening: Keoni-Hiva Gambit, Alua Variation A00 · 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
- Van't Kruijs Opening: Keoni-Hiva Gambit, Ekolu Variation A00 · 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 d5 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
- Amsterdam Attack A00 · 1. e3 e5 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. b3 Nf6
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.