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Semi-Slav Defense

Moves

Black scores

46.6%

Loses more
Loses moreEvenWins more

44.2% won4.7% drawn51.1% lost

Theory 46.7% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 13M games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
4...e6
Analyze this line move by move
Your levelnot setDrag to yours ↔
<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
47.6%46.3%86K
46.6%45.3%280K
46.9%45.4%671K
47.1%45.5%1.4M
47.5%45.5%2.5M
47.1%44.9%3.6M
46.1%43.6%3.0M
44.8%41.9%1.6M
43.0%33.4%325K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4, the Anti-Moscow Gambit.

Is the Semi-Slav Defense good?

Not for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone46.6
Stockfish46.7

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 46.6 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

52nd of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 48.7% · under 1000 bulletWorst 39.9% · 1800–1999 ultrabullet

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.

See my openingsSave and drill this line

More Semi-Slav Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 44 Semi-Slav Defense lines, ranked

44 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Szabo Variation3.9K games
55.6%Floor 54.3%
2
Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit, Tolush Variation425 games
57.7%Floor 53.8%
3
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Alatortsev System3.6K games
53.9%Floor 52.6%
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Lilienthal Variation19K games
51.2%Floor 50.7%
Semi-Slav Defense: Noteboom Variation, Abrahams Variation16K games
51.1%Floor 50.5%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Sozin Variation383 games
54.0%Floor 49.9%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation91K games
50.1%Floor 49.8%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Lundin Variation4.9K games
50.7%Floor 49.5%
Semi-Slav Defense: Stonewall Defense14K games
49.7%Floor 49.0%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Wade Variation41K games
49.1%Floor 48.7%
Semi-Slav Defense: Normal Variation344K games
48.7%Floor 48.5%
Semi-Slav Defense Accepted142K games
48.6%Floor 48.4%
Semi-Slav Defense: Noteboom Variation533K games
48.4%Floor 48.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Wade Variation, Larsen Variation3.1K games
49.5%Floor 48.0%
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation129K games
47.6%Floor 47.4%
Semi-Slav Defense: Rubinstein System7.2K games
48.2%Floor 47.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit, Forgotten Variation27K games
47.6%Floor 47.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Old Variation2.5K games
48.8%Floor 47.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Chigorin Defense214K games
47.3%Floor 47.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Move Order4.2M games
47.1%Floor 47.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Meran Variation111K games
47.0%Floor 46.7%
Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit, Main Line43K games
46.9%Floor 46.6%
Semi-Slav Defense: Bogoljubow Variation111K games
46.5%Floor 46.3%
Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Moscow Gambit182K games
46.4%Floor 46.2%
Semi-Slav Defense4.1M games
46.1%Floor 46.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Main Line1.9M games
46.1%Floor 46.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation84K games
45.8%Floor 45.5%
Semi-Slav Defense: Noteboom Variation, Anti-Noteboom Variation, Belyavsky Line18K games
45.8%Floor 45.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation, Center Variation1.7K games
47.1%Floor 45.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Stoltz Variation, Shabalov Attack21K games
45.6%Floor 45.0%
Semi-Slav Defense: Marshall Gambit687K games
44.5%Floor 44.4%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Pirc Variation377 games
48.6%Floor 44.3%
Semi-Slav Defense: Romih Variation46K games
44.5%Floor 44.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Noteboom Variation, Anti-Noteboom Gambit27K games
44.6%Floor 44.1%
Semi-Slav Defense: Quiet Variation154K games
43.7%Floor 43.5%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Blumenfeld Variation2.5K games
45.1%Floor 43.4%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Reynolds' Variation3.2K games
44.7%Floor 43.3%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Wade Variation, Kaidanov Gambit338 games
47.5%Floor 43.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Semi-Meran Variation18K games
43.4%Floor 42.8%
Semi-Slav Defense: Anti-Noteboom, Stonewall Variation, Portisch Gambit4.8K games
43.7%Floor 42.6%
Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation, Rabinovich Variation128 games
48.9%Floor 41.7%
Semi-Slav Defense: Gunderam Gambit16K games
40.8%Floor 40.2%
Semi-Slav Defense: Noteboom Variation, Anti-Noteboom Variation51K games
40.3%Floor 39.9%
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Ekstrom Variation5.5K games
37.3%Floor 36.2%
Analyze Semi-Slav Defense PositionsSee what each move is worth at your rating, move by move

Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Semi-Slav Defense family scores 46.6% for Black, from 13M rated Lichess games across 44 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. 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
13M 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.