Ware Defense: Snagglepuss Defense

1. e4 a5 2. d4 Nc6

The Ware Defense: Snagglepuss Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 a5 2. d4 Nc6. It is a line of the Ware Defense. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 73 times by this move order. White won 68%, 2% were drawn and Black won 30%. The most popular continuation is 3. d5 (40% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.96 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 3. Nc3 e6 4. d5 Nb8 5. Be3 Nf6)

ECO: B00
Moves: 4 plies
FEN: r1bqkbnr/1ppppppp/2n5/p7/3PP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3
PGN: 1. e4 a5 2. d4 Nc6

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	51	73%25%
1500-1999	20	60%40%
2000+	2	50%50%
All	73	68%30%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3. d5	29 (40%)	66%34%
3. Nf3	29 (40%)	76%24%
3. Nc3	4 (5%)	75%25%
3. Bc4	3 (4%)	67%33%
3. c4	3 (4%)	67%33%
3. c3	2 (3%)	50%50%
3. Be3	1 (1%)	100%
3. Ke2	1 (1%)	100%

Master games

11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 0%, Black 55%). The strongest:

IM Vasiliy Korchmar (2429) – Bryan Weisz (2070) 1-0 · Titled Tue 17th Dec Late · 2024-12-17
CM Miguel Lazaro Azcutia (2275) – Max Mottola (2128) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Jun Early · 2025-06-03
FM Alexander Zlatin (2322) – Bryan Weisz (2070) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th Dec Late · 2024-12-17
FM Robert S Eames (2151) – Max Mottola (2132) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th Dec Early · 2024-12-24
CM Adnan Sitnic (2105) – Max Mottola (2109) 0-1 · Titled Tue 11th Mar Late · 2025-03-11

Search all games of the Ware Defense: Snagglepuss Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

No_Brainer97 (2049) – BLCK_NINJA666 (2183) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
DadayKinanti (1975) – oji123098 (2052) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 540 + 4s
pollock22 (1932) – frane51 (1853) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 3s

Comes from

Ware Defense 1. e4 a5

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.