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Alekhine Defense

Moves

Black scores

49.0%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

47.0% won3.9% drawn49.1% lost

Theory 42.7% · Stockfish +0.8

Every level and clock · 29M games

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1...Nf6
Analyze this line

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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
48.3%46.1%2.1M
46.9%45.2%1.9M
48.2%46.7%2.5M
49.1%47.6%3.5M
49.9%48.2%4.7M
50.2%48.2%6.0M
49.4%47.1%5.1M
47.4%44.8%3.0M
45.3%42.0%598K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 2.d3, the Maróczy Variation.

Is the Alekhine Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone49.0
Stockfish42.7

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.8 for White

Floor 49.0 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

19th of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 59.0% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 35.5% · 2200–2499 classical

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. –: too few to score. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.

Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More Alekhine Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 53 Alekhine Defense lines, ranked

53 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation56K games
56.5%Floor 56.2%
2
Alekhine Defense: O'Sullivan Gambit168K games
55.2%Floor 55.0%
3
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack687K games
53.4%Floor 53.3%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Fianchetto Variation236K games
52.7%Floor 52.5%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Main Line200K games
52.3%Floor 52.1%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Alekhine Variation24K games
52.1%Floor 51.6%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Alekhine Gambit57K games
51.6%Floor 51.3%
Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation846K games
51.2%Floor 51.1%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Trifunovic Variation141K games
50.9%Floor 50.7%
Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Geschev Gambit1.4M games
50.7%Floor 50.6%
Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation4.3M games
50.5%Floor 50.5%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Cambridge Gambit27K games
50.9%Floor 50.4%
Alekhine Defense: Steiner Variation64K games
50.6%Floor 50.3%
Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation1.7M games
50.3%Floor 50.2%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Korchnoi Variation574 games
53.5%Floor 50.1%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Schmid Variation338K games
50.0%Floor 49.9%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Flohr Variation23K games
50.1%Floor 49.6%
Alekhine Defense: Balogh Variation227K games
49.6%Floor 49.5%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Alburt Variation206K games
49.4%Floor 49.2%
Alekhine Defense: Two Pawns Attack1.3M games
49.3%Floor 49.2%
Alekhine Defense: Two Pawns Attack, Tate Variation285K games
49.3%Floor 49.1%
Alekhine Defense: Welling Variation17K games
49.6%Floor 49.0%
Alekhine Defense: Maróczy Variation2.9M games
49.0%Floor 48.9%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Larsen-Haakert Variation193K games
49.0%Floor 48.8%
Alekhine Defense: Two Pawns Attack, Mikenas Variation5.0K games
49.9%Floor 48.7%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Panov Variation36K games
49.0%Floor 48.5%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Main Line277K games
48.4%Floor 48.3%
Alekhine Defense: Kmoch Variation20K games
48.9%Floor 48.3%
Alekhine Defense: Normal Variation2.0M games
48.4%Floor 48.3%
Alekhine Defense: Mokele Mbembe, Vavra Defense186K games
48.3%Floor 48.1%
Alekhine Defense: Two Pawns Attack, Lasker Variation722K games
47.7%Floor 47.6%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Larsen Variation260K games
47.6%Floor 47.5%
Alekhine Defense7.6M games
47.5%Floor 47.4%
Alekhine Defense: Brooklyn Variation917K games
47.4%Floor 47.3%
Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation, Krejcik Gambit119K games
47.5%Floor 47.3%
Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation, Karpov Variation1.0K games
49.7%Floor 47.2%
Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Myers Gambit53K games
47.4%Floor 47.1%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation74K games
46.8%Floor 46.5%
Alekhine Defense: Sämisch Attack624K games
46.5%Floor 46.4%
Alekhine Defense: Buckley Attack2.3K games
48.1%Floor 46.3%
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Tartakower Variation1.2K games
48.2%Floor 45.8%
Alekhine Defense: Mokele Mbembe658K games
45.5%Floor 45.4%
Alekhine Defense: Spielmann Gambit43K games
45.8%Floor 45.4%
Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation, Lasker Simul Gambit84K games
44.4%Floor 44.1%
Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation, Voronezh Variation68K games
43.7%Floor 43.4%
Alekhine Defense: The Squirrel95K games
43.4%Floor 43.2%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Vitolins Attack1.3K games
43.7%Floor 41.4%
Alekhine Defense: Brooklyn Variation, Everglades Variation11K games
41.2%Floor 40.5%
Alekhine Defense: Mokele Mbembe, Modern Line2.9K games
41.3%Floor 39.8%
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Keres Variation2.4K games
41.4%Floor 39.7%
Every Alekhine Defense variation, by name53
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Alekhine Defense family scores 49.0% for Black, from 29M rated Lichess games across 53 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
29M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.