LichessStockfish, depth 22, read 2026-09-26
White moves first, so Black has two answers at 1400–1599 blitz: 58 defences ranked by worst case, the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Against 1.e4: the Elephant Gambit, 51.1 over 869K games. Against 1.d4: the Benko Gambit, 53.4 over 51K games. Score is expected points per game; a draw counts half. From Lichess games, 2023–2026.
Source Lichess · played September 2023 to August 2026
Theory puts Black at 41.2% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 51.1% — 9.9 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +1.0 for White, 869K games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 0, 1000, 1200, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Elephant Gambit — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 46.5% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 50.5% — 4.0 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.4 for White, 14M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Caro-Kann Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 46.1% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 50.1% — 4.0 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.4 for White, 17M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1000, 1200, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the French Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 45.6% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 50.0% — 4.4 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.5 for White, 25M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Sicilian Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 44.2% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 49.3% — 5.1 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.6 for White, 6.0M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Modern Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Every figure is an expected score out of 100 for Black, so they can be read against each other. Score is what players at your level actually get — a draw counts half, so it is not a win rate. Worst case — the Floor, in the app’s own vocabulary, and the same figure under either name — is the worst score a line still clears, 90% confident; it is what ranks. Theory is what the position is worth under perfect play, read by Stockfish at depth 22 and put on the same scale. Gap is Score minus Theory: how much more, or less, players get from the position than it is theoretically worth. Games is how many the figures were counted over. Open a row for the position, its plan, and the win rate, draw rate and loss rate behind its score.
The other 21 that qualify at 1400–1599 blitz, ranked the same way and not explained — this is the reference, not the recommendation. The full ladder on Opening data carries every defence with enough games behind it, at this same 1400–1599 blitz — so its figures and these are the same figures.
At this level the family you choose moves your score by a point or two. What moves it more is the position you reach and whether you know it — which is what the analyzer and your drills are for.
Theory puts Black at 45.3% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 53.4% — 8.1 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.5 for White, 51K games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 0, 1000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Benko Gambit — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 46.5% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 51.0% — 4.5 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.4 for White, 179K games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the East Indian Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 46.5% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 51.2% — 4.7 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.4 for White, 20K games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1000, 2500+.
All the data on the Robatsch Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 46.4% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 50.6% — 4.2 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.4 for White, 206K games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 0, 1000, 1200, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Grünfeld Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 39.7% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 50.1% — 10.4 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +1.1 for White, 5.3M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 0, 1000, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Englund Gambit — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
The other 27 that qualify at 1400–1599 blitz, ranked the same way and not explained — this is the reference, not the recommendation. The full ladder on Opening data carries every defence with enough games behind it, at this same 1400–1599 blitz — so its figures and these are the same figures.
Theory puts Black at 44.7% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 47.8% — 3.1 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.6 for White, 8.6M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It sits under level at every rating counted here.
All the data on the Philidor Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
Theory puts Black at 45.4% here. Players at 1400–1599 blitz get 48.8% — 3.4 more than the position is worth.
Stockfish reads this position at +0.5 for White, 4.8M games behind the result beside it.
The dashed line is level. It drops under level at 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2500+.
All the data on the Pirc Defense — every level and clock with enough games behind it.
Opens the analyzer at this exact position with your rating and clock set. Lichess sign-in is needed there — then star the line and it enters your Drill schedule.
After 1.Nf3, 1.g3 and the rest, only 2 families reach enough games at 1400–1599 blitz to rank — too few to compare. The full ladder is on Opening data.
These are the results of players who chose this defence and play it on purpose. They are not a promise for someone picking it up today, and a difference in results is not evidence that the defence caused it.
At 1400–1599 blitz, White wins 49.7% and Black 46.5%, with 3.8% drawn, over 271,194,984 games — an expected score of 48.4 for Black before either side has chosen an opening.
Not the same one: 1.e4 and 1.d4 lead to different games, which is why this guide ranks two separate lists. Systems that ignore White’s first move exist, and they score below the top of both lists here.
At master level it is the most successful. At 1400–1599 blitz it scores 50.0 over 25M games, number 4 of 26 replies to 1.e4 counted here.
Ranked at 0–999 blitz rather than at this guide's own level, against 1.e4 it is the Sicilian Defense at 51.5 over 2.9M games, and against 1.d4 it is the East Indian Defense at 54.0 over 41K games. Those are the results of players rated there, not advice about which is easiest to learn — change the level above to read the ranking at yours.
It is the Floor, which these guides print as Worst case: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. It ranks the list because a steady result is worth more to a player than a high average that swings.
No. These are the results of players who chose these lines and play them on purpose, not what happens when someone picks one up today. A difference in results is not evidence that the opening caused it.