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Nimzowitsch Defense

Moves

Black scores

48.1%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

46.3% won3.6% drawn50.1% lost

Theory 46.5% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 36M games

1
2
3
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5
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7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
1...Nc6
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score peaks in the middle, at 2000–2199.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
47.6%45.6%3.3M
46.4%44.7%4.4M
47.0%45.4%5.6M
47.8%46.2%6.3M
48.7%47.0%6.2M
49.7%47.8%5.4M
49.9%47.8%3.3M
48.6%46.2%1.5M
47.3%42.1%268K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 2.Nf3, the Declined Variation.

Is the Nimzowitsch Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone48.1
Stockfish46.5

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 48.1 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

33rd of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 55.9% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 42.1% · 2500+ rapid

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. 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 Nimzowitsch Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 41 Nimzowitsch Defense lines, ranked

41 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit213K games
52.4%Floor 52.2%
2
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, de Smet Gambit1.1M games
51.7%Floor 51.6%
3
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation249K games
51.5%Floor 51.3%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Exchange Variation, Marshall Gambit429K games
51.4%Floor 51.3%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Wheeler Gambit8.6K games
52.2%Floor 51.3%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation649K games
51.3%Floor 51.2%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit Accepted227K games
50.7%Floor 50.5%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Exchange Variation2.1M games
49.3%Floor 49.2%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Pseudo-Spanish Variation509K games
49.2%Floor 49.0%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation1.3M games
48.7%Floor 48.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Declined Variation3.5M games
48.5%Floor 48.4%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Linksspringer Variation7.2M games
48.2%Floor 48.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Bielefelder Gambit62K games
48.4%Floor 48.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Advance Variation3.7M games
47.9%Floor 47.9%
Nimzowitsch Defense7.1M games
47.8%Floor 47.8%
Nimzowitsch Defense: French Connection538K games
47.7%Floor 47.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Hornung Gambit22K games
48.2%Floor 47.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Franco-Nimzowitsch Variation2.0M games
47.4%Floor 47.3%
Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, El Columpio Gambit174 games
53.5%Floor 47.3%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Williams Variation1.6M games
47.3%Floor 47.2%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Vehre Variation275K games
47.3%Floor 47.2%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Aachen Gambit26K games
47.4%Floor 46.9%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Pirc Connection85K games
47.1%Floor 46.8%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Mikenas Variation1.2M games
46.6%Floor 46.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Nimzowitsch Gambit116K games
46.9%Floor 46.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense78K games
46.7%Floor 46.5%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Breyer Variation189K games
46.6%Floor 46.4%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Hammer Gambit49K games
46.5%Floor 46.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Keres Attack320K games
45.7%Floor 45.6%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Riemann Defense282K games
45.5%Floor 45.4%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Woodchuck Variation70K games
45.6%Floor 45.2%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Heinola-Deppe Gambit68K games
45.4%Floor 45.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Brandics Gambit4.8K games
46.2%Floor 45.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Herford Gambit4.9K games
46.0%Floor 44.9%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Main Line157K games
45.0%Floor 44.8%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Paulsen Attack744K games
44.9%Floor 44.8%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Richter Gambit5.4K games
44.5%Floor 43.4%
Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Exchange Variation1.8K games
45.1%Floor 43.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Scandinavian Variation, Bogoljubow Variation, Erben Gambit3.2K games
44.1%Floor 42.7%
Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Pin Variation1.9K games
42.9%Floor 41.1%
Nimzowitsch Defense: Neo-Mongoloid Defense43K games
41.0%Floor 40.6%
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Nimzowitsch Defense family scores 48.1% for Black, with a range running from 48.1% to 48.2% around that figure, from 36M rated Lichess games across 41 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
36M 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.