Counter Intelligence

No. This page aggregates what happened in 90M rated games across 200 positions. It's a practical counter dataset: "What tends to score best for Black here?" not "What is theoretically best?".

Move 3 is an early decision point where many openings branch. Our 200 positions include 145 against 1.e4, 52 against 1.d4, and 3 against flank openings.

Outcomes are shown from Black's perspective for the response move (because Black is to play 3...). Win = Black wins, Loss = White wins. For example, Caro-Kann Defense: Hillbilly Attack after 3...Bg4 shows 68.4% Black wins.

Positions are keyed by the move prefix (the exact moves leading to the position), not just the opening name. That reduces "same name, different position" mixing.

Look at how many games sit behind it. French Defense: Knight Variation has the most, at 10M games; a line near the bottom of the list rests on far fewer, and its number moves more.

Because the page is position-first. The same named opening can be reached via different move orders (different positions). This page keeps them separate so the results don't get blended incorrectly.

Edge is Black's worst-case advantage — how much more Black wins than loses, stated conservatively (90% confident). In our data, Edge ranges from -24.2 (Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation) to +36.2 (Caro-Kann Defense: Hillbilly Attack), with an average of −1.5 across all 200 positions.

Yes. Many openings have different practical results across rating bands. This page aggregates all ratings for maximum sample stability — to see what a specific counter scores at your exact level and time control, load the line in the TrueElo analyzer, which breaks every move down by rating bracket.

It can. These figures blend every time control, so check a counter line in the analyzer with your time control selected before committing it to your repertoire.

Take the one with more games behind it. French Defense: Knight Variation has the most on this page, at 10M games, and a figure off that many barely moves.

Search the opening name, then play the 3... response with the highest Edge and plenty of games behind it. Caro-Kann Defense: Hillbilly Attack shows 3...Bg4 at +36.2% Edge off 1.9K games.

This page covers 200 Black move-3 (3...) responses. If you want move-by-move recommendations for both sides, use the main TrueElo analyzer and the per-opening stats pages.

Use this page as a "first punch" tool: pick your preferred 3... responses from our 200 positions. 83 (41.5%) are true counters where Black is favored; 117 are equalizers for minimizing White's advantage. Then go deeper on per-opening stats pages for follow-ups.

Yes. Rating and time control filters are encoded in the URL query string, so you can copy/paste the URL after setting filters and someone else will see the same slice.

From 2.1B games rated on Lichess (2023-12 to 2025-11). Every figure carries the range it is in, 90% confident, so a move off a few hundred games and one off a few hundred thousand can be read against each other.

This page was last regenerated January 2026 from the underlying stats dataset. The timestamp at the top shows the last refresh; data is updated every few months.

No. This is a practical scoreboard based on 90M games, not a proof of correctness. Use it to choose moves that score in real games; use theory or an engine when you want to know whether a line holds up in the long run.

We cover 200 positions (145 against 1.e4, 52 against 1.d4, 3 flank). Try searching broader labels or the move prefix. If it's still missing, there may not be enough games for stable move-3 comparisons (minimum 50 required).