Zukertort Opening: Reversed Mexican Defense

1. Nf3 d5 2. Nc3

The Zukertort Opening: Reversed Mexican Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A06, reached after 1. Nf3 d5 2. Nc3. It is a line of the Zukertort Opening. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4,762 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nf6 (35% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.25 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 2… Nf6 3. d4 c5 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. e3)

ECO: A06
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/8/2N2N2/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. Nf3 d5 2. Nc3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	3,525	45%50%
1500-1999	1,105	45%50%
2000+	132	55%41%
All	4,762	46%50%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nf6	1,683 (35%)	44%52%
2… d4	774 (16%)	46%51%
2… e6	642 (13%)	45%50%
2… Nc6	460 (10%)	45%49%
2… c6	314 (7%)	45%48%
2… Bf5	242 (5%)	43%54%
2… c5	210 (4%)	48%50%
2… Bg4	190 (4%)	52%45%

Master games

50 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 58%, draw 10%, Black 32%). The strongest:

GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2801) – GM Anish Giri (2782) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 3m+1spm 2018 · 2018-09-07
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2776) – GM Elina Danielian (2385) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-09-04
GM Li, Di. (2552) – GM Jinshi Bai (2549) 0-1 · 15th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2024-10-29
GM Christian Bauer (2596) – Alexandre Bacrot (2388) 1-0 · Int Blitz de Paris IdF · 2023-03-05
GM Christian Bauer (2639) – Vianney Domenech (2265) 1-0 · TCh-FRA Top 16 Philidor · 2021-01-09

Search all games of the Zukertort Opening: Reversed Mexican Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

brokenpace (2530) – FM Crew12 (2711) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
chocolate10 (2585) – GM Vagizovich (2596) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
brokenpace (2529) – BishopAndSons (2612) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 d5) 1. Nf3 d5

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.