Benoni Defense
Moves
Black scores
49.6%
About evenEveryone
Loses moreEvenWins more
47.7% won3.6% drawn48.6% lost
Theory 45.4% · Stockfish +0.5
Every level and clock · 41M games
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
2...c5
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Win rate by rating
Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.
| Rating | Score against even | Score | Won | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50.2% | 48.7% | 607K | ||
| 50.0% | 48.7% | 1.4M | ||
| 50.0% | 48.7% | 3.0M | ||
| 50.2% | 48.8% | 5.1M | ||
| 50.2% | 48.6% | 7.4M | ||
| 50.1% | 48.2% | 8.8M | ||
| 49.4% | 47.3% | 7.7M | ||
| 47.9% | 45.5% | 5.4M | ||
| 45.3% | 42.2% | 1.2M |
Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.
What comes next?
The most played continuation is 3.d5 d6, the Hromádka System.
Is the Benoni Defense good?
Even for Black, across every level and clock.
Everyone49.6
Stockfish45.4
Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.5 for White
Floor 49.5 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.
Among the families
11th of 65 families Black can choose
Where it wins · rating × clock
Best 62.6% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 36.6% · 2500+ rapid
Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.
Average game length
0204060This line 35All openings 34
How do you score in your own openings?
Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.
See my openings
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More Benoni Defense lines
Most played first; each line counts its own games.
All 46 Benoni Defense lines, ranked
46 variations · ranked by floor
Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.
1
Benoni Defense: Zilbermints-Benoni Gambit2.5K games
2
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Averbakh-Grivas Attack80K games
3
Benoni Defense: Four Pawns Attack72K games
Benoni Defense: Uhlmann Variation37K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation166K games
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Be37.3K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Czerniak Defense27K games
Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted5.2M games
Benoni Defense: Czech Benoni Defense228K games
Benoni Defense1.6M games
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni25M games
Benoni Defense: Weenink Variation73K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Main Line32K games
Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense61K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Argentine Counterattack10K games
Benoni Defense: Hromádka System1.1M games
Benoni Defense: Pawn Storm Variation28K games
Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense, Kingside Move Order340K games
Benoni Defense: Modern Variation707K games
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation67K games
Benoni Defense: King's Indian System41K games
Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Hastings Defense, Main Line17K games
Benoni Defense: Semi-Benoni443K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation10K games
Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense637K games
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line1.1M games
Benoni Defense: French Benoni2.9M games
Benoni Defense: Woozle21K games
Benoni Defense: Franco-Sicilian Hybrid15K games
Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Hastings Defense9.8K games
Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Schmid Variation85K games
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg557K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Full Line14K games
Benoni Defense: Cormorant Gambit88K games
Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation84K games
Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge214K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, Czerniak Defense, Tal Line28K games
Benoni Defense: Classical Variation, New York Variation104K games
Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation4.9K games
Benoni Defense: Taimanov Variation70K games
Benoni Defense: Snail Variation8.5K games
Benoni Defense: Knight's Tour Variation38K games
Benoni Defense: Modern Variation, Snake Variation91K games
Benoni Defense: Benoni-Staunton Gambit5.6K games
Benoni Defense: Mikenas Variation16K games
Benoni Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Main Line58K games
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Methodology
Across every level and clock, the Benoni Defense family scores 49.6% for Black, with a range running from 49.5% to 49.6% around that figure, from 41M rated Lichess games across 46 variations. 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
- 41M 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.