44K games from Lichess · Updated January 2026
At all ratings, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 49.7% expected score for White (we're 90% confident it's between 49.3% and 50.1%), based on 44K Lichess games.
Deep-dive datasets for this opening
Improves with rating: 33% → 49%
Best in Blitz (47%), worst in UltraBullet (20%)
Click any cell to filter. Green = above 50%, Red = below 50%.
| Rating | UB | Bulle | Blitz | Rapid | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-999 | — | — | — | ||
| 1000-1199 | — | — | |||
| 1200-1399 | — | ||||
| 1400-1599 | — | ||||
| 1600-1799 | |||||
| 1800-1999 | — | ||||
| 2000-2199 | — | ||||
| 2200-2499 | — | ||||
| 2500+ | — |
Expected score matrix by rating bracket and time control
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 46.3% (90% CI: 45.9%-46.7%) win rate for white, based on 44K rated games from Lichess.
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation performs best at 2500+ Elo with a 49.4% win rate for white (3.5K games). Win rate tends to decline at higher ratings as opponents know the theory better.
Blitz (46.7%) outperforms Classical (36.3%) by 10.4%. Choose your time control wisely.
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a sharpness score of 93.3 (decisive), meaning 93.3% of games end decisively. Average game length is 38 moves.
At 1200-1399 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 48.3% (90% CI: 41.3%-55.4%) win rate for white, based on 134 Lichess games. Average game length is 29 moves with a 3.3% draw rate.
At 1400-1599 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 46.0% (90% CI: 42.1%-49.8%) win rate for white, based on 452 Lichess games. Average game length is 31 moves with a 4.5% draw rate.
At 1600-1799 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 46.8% (90% CI: 44.8%-48.8%) win rate for white, based on 1.7K Lichess games. Average game length is 33 moves with a 4.1% draw rate.
At 1800-1999 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 43.2% (90% CI: 42.2%-44.2%) win rate for white, based on 6.7K Lichess games. Average game length is 35 moves with a 5.4% draw rate.
At 2000-2199 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 44.3% (90% CI: 43.6%-45.0%) win rate for white, based on 15K Lichess games. Average game length is 37 moves with a 5.9% draw rate.
At 2200-2499 Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 48.5% (90% CI: 47.9%-49.2%) win rate for white, based on 17K Lichess games. Average game length is 39 moves with a 7.4% draw rate.
At 2500+ Elo, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 49.4% (90% CI: 48.0%-50.8%) win rate for white, based on 3.5K Lichess games. Average game length is 42 moves with a 10.2% draw rate.
In Bullet games, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 46.5% (90% CI: 45.7%-47.3%) win rate for white (9.8K Lichess games). Draw rate is 4.7%.
In Blitz games, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 46.7% (90% CI: 46.2%-47.1%) win rate for white (31K Lichess games). Draw rate is 7.0%.
In Rapid games, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 43.3% (90% CI: 42.0%-44.6%) win rate for white (3.7K Lichess games). Draw rate is 8.5%.
In Classical games, the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation has a 36.3% (90% CI: 31.1%-41.6%) win rate for white (226 Lichess games). Draw rate is 15.6%.
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation is statistically balanced with a 46.3% (90% CI: 45.9%-46.7%) win rate across all ratings. It performs best at 2500+ Elo. Your results depend on your rating, time control, and how well you know the typical plans.