Ware Opening
1. a4
The Ware Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. a4. Black is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 8,379 times by this move order. White won 42%, 5% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 1… e5 (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.21 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 1… Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 1 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/P7/8/1PPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 1- PGN
1. a4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5,520 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,464 | |
| 2000+ | 395 | |
| All | 8,379 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1… e5 | 3,322 (40%) | |
| 1… d5 | 1,991 (24%) | |
| 1… e6 | 476 (6%) | |
| 1… Nf6 | 429 (5%) | |
| 1… a5 Symmetric Variation | 356 (4%) | |
| 1… c5 | 343 (4%) | |
| 1… g6 | 252 (3%) | |
| 1… c6 | 245 (3%) |
Master games
552 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 61%, draw 8%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) – GM So, W. (2776) 0-1 · 10th Norway Blitz 2022 · 2022-05-30
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2788) 1-0 · World Blitz Final · 2012-07-10
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2829) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2713) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Nov Early · 2023-11-21
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) – GM Yangyi Yu (2720) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-04
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2859) – GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2605) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Jan Early · 2023-01-03
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
- FM enclasesUNI (2618) – vxqzt (2707) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Continuations
- Ware Opening: Symmetric Variation A00 · 1. a4 a5
- Ware Opening: Crab Variation A00 · 1. a4 e5 2. h4
- Ware Opening: Meadow Hay Trap A00 · 1. a4 e5 2. Ra3
- Ware Opening: Wing Gambit A00 · 1. a4 b5 2. axb5 Bb7
- Ware Opening: Cologne Gambit A00 · 1. a4 b6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nd7
- Ware Opening: Ware Gambit A00 · 1. a4 e5 2. a5 d5 3. e3 f5 4. a6
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.