2.2K games from Lichess · Updated January 2026
At all ratings, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 58.5% expected score for Black (we're 90% confident it's between 56.7% and 60.2%), based on 2.2K Lichess games.
Deep-dive datasets for this opening
Declines with rating: 60% → 50%
Best in Blitz (57%), worst in Classical (48%)
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 Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 39.8% (90% CI: 38.1%-41.5%) win rate for white, based on 2.2K rated games from Lichess.
The Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit performs best at 2500+ Elo with a 43.2% win rate for white (328 games). Win rate tends to decline at higher ratings as opponents know the theory better.
Bullet (40.7%) outperforms Blitz (38.6%) by 2.1%. Choose your time control wisely.
The Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a sharpness score of 96.5 (very decisive), meaning 96.5% of games end decisively. Average game length is 32 moves.
At 1800-1999 Elo, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 34.3% (90% CI: 29.6%-39.1%) win rate for white, based on 268 Lichess games. Average game length is 30 moves with a 4.3% draw rate.
At 2000-2199 Elo, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 41.2% (90% CI: 38.1%-44.4%) win rate for white, based on 640 Lichess games. Average game length is 30 moves with a 2.3% draw rate.
At 2200-2499 Elo, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 39.7% (90% CI: 37.0%-42.4%) win rate for white, based on 899 Lichess games. Average game length is 33 moves with a 3.5% draw rate.
At 2500+ Elo, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 43.2% (90% CI: 38.8%-47.8%) win rate for white, based on 328 Lichess games. Average game length is 37 moves with a 6.5% draw rate.
In Bullet games, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 40.7% (90% CI: 38.0%-43.5%) win rate for white (857 Lichess games). Draw rate is 2.9%.
In Blitz games, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 38.6% (90% CI: 36.3%-40.9%) win rate for white (1.2K Lichess games). Draw rate is 4.1%.
In Rapid games, the Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit has a 44.1% (90% CI: 37.6%-50.6%) win rate for white (154 Lichess games). Draw rate is 2.9%.
The Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit is slightly favors black with a 39.8% (90% CI: 38.1%-41.5%) 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.