Ware Opening: Symmetric Variation
1. a4 a5
The Ware Opening: Symmetric Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. a4 a5. It is a line of the Ware Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 356 times by this move order. White won 40%, 11% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 2. b3 (21% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.34 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 2. e4 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 d6)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/1ppppppp/8/p7/P7/8/1PPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. a4 a5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 267 | |
| 1500-1999 | 79 | |
| 2000+ | 10 | |
| All | 356 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. b3 | 73 (21%) | |
| 2. h4 | 47 (13%) | |
| 2. Ra3 | 37 (10%) | |
| 2. d4 | 35 (10%) | |
| 2. b4 | 28 (8%) | |
| 2. Nc3 | 23 (6%) | |
| 2. e3 | 21 (6%) | |
| 2. c3 | 20 (6%) |
Master games
37 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 76%, draw 8%, Black 16%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2795) – IM Jan Klimkowski (2518) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th May Early · 2024-05-07
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2725) – GM Sergei Shipov (2541) 1-0 · Titled Arena Mar 6th 2021 · 2021-03-06
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2725) – GM Sergei Shipov (2541) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 16th Feb · 2021-02-16
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) – IM Marcin Sieciechowicz (2401) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Dec Early · 2024-12-10
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2607) – GM Pawel Jaracz (2465) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Feb Late · 2023-02-28
Search all games of the Ware Opening: Symmetric Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- InvisibleGuest2023 (2827) – IM Kostik_Mostik (2891) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2669) – reallylovezerk (2669) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- wantokus (2248) – chambofish (2204) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
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.