Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 d5)

1. Nf3 d5

The Zukertort Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO A06, reached after 1. Nf3 d5. White is to move. 13 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 139,959 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (35% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 58; best line 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7)

ECO: A06
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/8/5N2/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. Nf3 d5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	47,736	49%47%
1500-1999	64,290	52%44%
2000+	27,933	51%42%
All	139,959	51%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. d4	49,088 (35%)	51%45%
2. g3 King's Indian Attack (1… d5 2. g3)	29,157 (21%)	52%43%
2. c4 Réti Opening	20,084 (14%)	53%42%
2. e4	13,608 (10%)	52%44%
2. e3	8,548 (6%)	49%45%
2. d3 Old Indian Attack	5,491 (4%)	50%45%
2. b3 Classical Variation (1… d5 2. b3)	4,888 (3%)	52%43%
2. Nc3 Reversed Mexican Defense	4,762 (3%)	46%50%

Master games

36,390 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 27%, Black 31%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) – Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-20
Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) – LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-20
SlowChess Blitz 2.9 avx2 (3418) – Stoofvlees II b5 (3492) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
Stoofvlees II b5 (3492) – SlowChess Blitz 2.9 avx2 (3418) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Liren Ding (2791) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020-07-01

Search all games of the Zukertort Opening and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

FM Guary1 (2898) – GM cutemouse83 (2944) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
FM Guary1 (2902) – GM cutemouse83 (2939) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Nana_jede_cevape (2868) – GM gmbrewchess (2969) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3) 1. Nf3

Continuations

King's Indian Attack (1… d5 2. g3) A07 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3
Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Classical Variation (1… d5 2. b3) A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3
Réti Opening A09 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4
Zukertort Opening: Ampel Variation A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. Rg1
Zukertort Opening: Old Indian Attack A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. d3
Zukertort Opening: Reversed Mexican Defense A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. Nc3
Zukertort Opening: The Potato A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. a4
Queen's Pawn Game: Anti-Torre D02 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Bg4
Zukertort Opening: Pachman Gambit A06 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 c5 3. c4 dxc4 4. b3
Semi-Slav Defense: Normal Variation (7. d4 Nbd7) D45 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. b3 Bd6 6. Bb2 O-O 7. d4 Nbd7
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack (8. Qc2 Ne4) D64 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2 Ne4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca Variation D63 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5
Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (8… Bb7 9. Bd3) E14 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb2 Bb7 9. Bd3

More Zukertort 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.