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Sicilian Defense

Moves

Black scores

49.4%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

47.4% won4.0% drawn48.6% lost

Theory 45.6% · Stockfish +0.5

Every level and clock · 307M games

1
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h8
g
f
e
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c
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a
1...c5
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
51.9%50.5%6.1M
50.7%49.3%14M
50.4%49.0%29M
50.3%48.7%48M
49.7%47.9%66M
49.2%47.1%69M
48.6%46.2%46M
47.2%44.4%25M
44.9%40.3%4.8M

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 2.Bc4, the Bowdler Attack.

Is the Sicilian Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone49.4
Stockfish45.6

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.5 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 57.4% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 40.5% · 2500+ rapid

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 Sicilian Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 313 Sicilian Defense lines, ranked

313 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
Sicilian Defense: Amazon Attack32K games
66.4%Floor 66.0%
2
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted, Siberian Variation, Siberian Trap22K games
62.2%Floor 61.7%
3
Sicilian Defense: Yates Variation16K games
61.7%Floor 61.1%
Sicilian Defense: King David's Opening32K games
59.7%Floor 59.2%
Sicilian Defense: Kveinis Variation166K games
58.1%Floor 57.9%
Sicilian Defense: Gaw-Paw Variation17K games
57.1%Floor 56.5%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Goteborg Variation6.0K games
57.1%Floor 56.1%
Sicilian Defense: Brick Variation29K games
55.8%Floor 55.3%
Sicilian Defense: Grob Variation41K games
54.3%Floor 53.9%
Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Vitolins Variation75K games
54.1%Floor 53.8%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Scheveningen Variation11K games
54.4%Floor 53.6%
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Wing Attack619K games
53.7%Floor 53.6%
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted, Larsen Defense5.7K games
54.4%Floor 53.3%
Sicilian Defense: Kronberger Variation50K games
53.7%Floor 53.3%
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation783K games
53.3%Floor 53.2%
Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation1.6M games
53.2%Floor 53.1%
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation, Knight Variation2.0M games
53.1%Floor 53.0%
Sicilian Defense: Coles Sicilian Gambit8.8K games
53.9%Floor 53.0%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Polugaevsky Variation20K games
53.4%Floor 52.8%
Sicilian Defense: Kronberger Variation, Nemeth Gambit151 games
59.2%Floor 52.6%
Sicilian Defense: Pin Variation457K games
52.7%Floor 52.6%
Sicilian Defense: Sozin Attack282K games
52.7%Floor 52.6%
Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations, Anti-Qxd4 Move Order Accepted71K games
52.9%Floor 52.5%
Sicilian Defense: Paulsen-Basman Defense704K games
52.5%Floor 52.4%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, English Attack, Anti-English96K games
52.7%Floor 52.4%
Sicilian Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation556K games
52.5%Floor 52.4%
Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation1.9M games
52.3%Floor 52.2%
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted, Taimanov Formation26K games
52.7%Floor 52.2%
Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Exchange Variation1.7M games
52.2%Floor 52.1%
Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon1.1M games
52.2%Floor 52.1%
Sicilian Defense: French Variation, Normal742K games
52.2%Floor 52.1%
Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, American Attack46K games
52.5%Floor 52.1%
Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations, Ginsberg Gambit118K games
52.2%Floor 52.0%
Sicilian Defense: O'Kelly Variation, Normal System883K games
52.0%Floor 51.9%
Sicilian Defense: Taimanov Variation, Bastrikov Variation577K games
52.0%Floor 51.9%
Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Santasiere Variation4.0K games
53.2%Floor 51.9%
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Declined, Alapin Formation157K games
51.9%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Sosonko Variation14K games
52.4%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer Variation, Exchange Variation14K games
52.4%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Modern Variations, Main Line1.7M games
51.8%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack, Tal Gambit156K games
51.9%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Myers Attack, with a4103K games
51.9%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Neo-Classical Defense17K games
52.3%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Maróczy Bind, Breyer Variation65K games
52.0%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Nyezhmetdinov-Rossolimo Attack, San Francisco Gambit1.1K games
54.2%Floor 51.7%
Sicilian Defense: Godiva Variation464K games
51.6%Floor 51.5%
Sicilian Defense: Wing Gambit, Deferred Variation195K games
51.7%Floor 51.5%
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation47K games
51.8%Floor 51.5%
Sicilian Defense: Pin Variation, Jaffe Variation13K games
52.1%Floor 51.4%
Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation, Cobra Variation50K games
51.8%Floor 51.4%
Every Sicilian Defense variation, by name313
Analyze Sicilian Defense PositionsSee what each move is worth at your rating, move by move

Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Sicilian Defense family scores 49.4% for Black, from 307M rated Lichess games across 313 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
307M 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.