Ware Opening: Meadow Hay Trap
1. a4 e5 2. Ra3
The Ware Opening: Meadow Hay Trap is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. a4 e5 2. Ra3. It is a line of the Ware Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 199 times by this move order. White won 32%, 7% were drawn and Black won 61%. The most popular continuation is 2… Bxa3 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: −2.69 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 2… Bxa3 3. Nxa3 d5 4. e3 Nc6 5. d4)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/P7/R7/1PPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR b Kkq - 1 2- PGN
1. a4 e5 2. Ra3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 120 | |
| 1500-1999 | 56 | |
| 2000+ | 23 | |
| All | 199 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… Bxa3 | 89 (45%) | |
| 2… d5 | 43 (22%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 21 (11%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 8 (4%) | |
| 2… Bc5 | 8 (4%) | |
| 2… d6 | 6 (3%) | |
| 2… Qh4 | 4 (2%) | |
| 2… Bb4 | 4 (2%) |
Master games
39 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 8%, Black 46%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Kacper Piorun (2611) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th May Early · 2024-05-07
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Paulius Pultinevicius (2600) 0-1 · Titled Tue 7th May Early · 2024-05-07
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – FM Nikita Shandrygin (2209) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th May Early · 2024-05-07
- GM Thomas Beerdsen (2513) – GM Jose Angel Guerra Mendez (2484) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 11th Jun Early · 2024-06-11
- GM Cem Kaan Gokerkan (2512) – IM Piotr Piesik (2423) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st May Early · 2024-05-21
Search all games of the Ware Opening: Meadow Hay Trap and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM Secret_Magnus (2680) – FM OjaiJoao (2632) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- IM Secret_Magnus (2690) – Flanagan2000 (2525) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Winquitter (2483) – DumbTactic101 (2522) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Ware Opening 1. a4
More Ware 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.