Zukertort Opening: Santasiere's Folly

1. b4 d5 2. Nf3

The Zukertort Opening: Santasiere's Folly is a chess opening classified as ECO A06, reached after 1. b4 d5 2. Nf3. 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 114 times by this move order. White won 43%, 5% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nf6 (26% of games).

Engine evaluation: −0.15 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 2… Nf6 3. e3 e5 4. Nxe5 Bxb4 5. Be2)

ECO: A06
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/1P6/5N2/P1PPPPPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. b4 d5 2. Nf3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	46	39%54%
1500-1999	55	44%51%
2000+	13	54%46%
All	114	43%52%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nf6	30 (26%)	40%53%
2… Nc6	14 (12%)	36%64%
2… Bg4	14 (12%)	43%50%
2… e6	13 (11%)	54%38%
2… Bf5	13 (11%)	38%62%
2… c6	10 (9%)	40%60%
2… f6	5 (4%)	60%40%
2… a6	4 (4%)	25%25%50%

Master games

26 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 19%, Black 27%). The strongest:

IM Juraj Druska (2510) – FM Jakub Fus (2404) 0-1 · Texas Collegiate Rapid · 2023-01-29
FM Arian Tamadon (2308) – IM Alexander Khlebovich (2423) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Mar Late · 2025-03-18
FM Zachary Tanenbaum (2299) – FM Ivan Yeletsky (2408) 0-1 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 28th May 2026 · 2026-05-28
IM Arsen Davtyan (2421) – FM Dietmar Hiermann (2216) 1-0 · Titled Tue 29th Jul Late · 2025-07-29
FM Zachary Tanenbaum (2299) – FM Gedeon Hartge (2307) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 12th May 2026 · 2026-05-12

Search all games of the Zukertort Opening: Santasiere's Folly and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

bsisanto_tiktok (2195) – Mladinec_Skopje (2250) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
dubrownie (2215) – Kezo5 (2219) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 5s
WuiderWidder (2227) – Dark_Claw (2198) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s

Comes from

Polish Opening, with d5 (1. b4 d5) 1. b4 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.