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Pterodactyl Defense

Moves

Black scores

49.5%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

47.5% won3.9% drawn48.6% lost

Theory 42.5% · Stockfish +0.8

Every level and clock · 1.2M games

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5...d6
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
54.2%53.0%5.3K
51.5%50.3%17K
50.7%49.5%41K
50.5%49.1%88K
50.3%48.7%156K
50.0%48.2%236K
49.6%47.6%281K
48.8%46.5%300K
47.0%43.9%105K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

Is the Pterodactyl Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone49.5
Stockfish42.5

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.8 for White

Floor 49.4 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

13th of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 58.7% · under 1000 bulletWorst 42.9% · 2200–2499 rapid

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. –: too few to score. 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 Pterodactyl Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 32 Pterodactyl Defense lines, ranked

32 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Siroccopteryx2.2K games
63.8%Floor 62.1%
2
Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Siroccopteryx2.8K games
58.1%Floor 56.6%
3
Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Pteranodon2.6K games
56.9%Floor 55.3%
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Anhanguera12K games
55.4%Floor 54.7%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Anhanguera487 games
58.3%Floor 54.6%
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Unpin4.1K games
52.7%Floor 51.4%
Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Pterodactyl18K games
51.9%Floor 51.3%
Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, Queen Pteranodon21K games
51.8%Floor 51.2%
Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Austriadactylus Western743 games
54.2%Floor 51.2%
Pterodactyl Defense1.6K games
52.2%Floor 50.1%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Anhanguera278K games
50.1%Floor 50.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Benoni Pterodactyl6.2K games
51.1%Floor 50.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Queen Pterodactyl, Quiet Line214K games
50.2%Floor 50.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Pteranodon23K games
50.4%Floor 49.9%
Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Rhamphorhynchus175K games
50.0%Floor 49.8%
Pterodactyl Defense: Western, Anhanguera4.5K games
50.7%Floor 49.5%
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Pteranodon2.1K games
51.0%Floor 49.2%
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Rhamphorhynchus71K games
49.4%Floor 49.1%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Benoni199K games
48.8%Floor 48.7%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Benoni Beefeater Pterodactyl5.2K games
49.2%Floor 48.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Benoni Pterodactyl6.3K games
48.9%Floor 47.9%
Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, Queen Pterodactyl684 games
50.1%Floor 47.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, Rhamphorhynchus456 games
50.8%Floor 47.0%
Pterodactyl Defense: Sicilian, Benoni Gambit5.1K games
48.1%Floor 46.9%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Rhamphorhynchus85K games
46.8%Floor 46.5%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Benoni Quetzalcoatlus7.7K games
47.1%Floor 46.2%
Pterodactyl Defense: Fianchetto, Queen Benoni Pterodactyl13K games
46.2%Floor 45.4%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Pterodactyl63K games
45.2%Floor 44.8%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Quetzalcoatlus Gambit1.5K games
45.4%Floor 43.4%
Pterodactyl Defense: Austrian, Grand Prix Pterodactyl831 games
46.1%Floor 43.3%
Pterodactyl Defense: Eastern, Benoni Pteranodon2.9K games
42.7%Floor 41.2%
Pterodactyl Defense: Central, Bogolubovia168 games
39.1%Floor 33.1%
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Pterodactyl Defense family scores 49.5% for Black, with a range running from 49.4% to 49.6% around that figure, from 1.2M rated Lichess games across 32 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
1.2M 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.