6.7K games from Lichess · Updated January 2026
At all ratings, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 60.7% expected score for White (we're 90% confident it's between 59.7% and 61.7%), based on 6.7K Lichess games.
Declines with rating: 60% → 52%
Best in Classical (61%), worst in Rapid (54%)
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 Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 58.5% (90% CI: 57.5%-59.5%) win rate for white, based on 6.7K rated games from Lichess.
The Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice performs best at 2200-2499 Elo with a 60.2% win rate for white (3.0K games). Win rate tends to decline at higher ratings as opponents know the theory better.
Blitz (59.3%) outperforms Rapid (54.3%) by 5.0%. Choose your time control wisely.
The Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a sharpness score of 95.6 (very decisive), meaning 95.6% of games end decisively. Average game length is 32 moves.
At 1600-1799 Elo, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 64.9% (90% CI: 57.6%-71.9%) win rate for white, based on 118 Lichess games. Average game length is 27 moves with a 2.1% draw rate.
At 1800-1999 Elo, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 60.2% (90% CI: 57.0%-63.3%) win rate for white, based on 636 Lichess games. Average game length is 28 moves with a 2.3% draw rate.
At 2000-2199 Elo, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 57.1% (90% CI: 55.3%-58.8%) win rate for white, based on 2.2K Lichess games. Average game length is 30 moves with a 3.5% draw rate.
At 2200-2499 Elo, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 60.2% (90% CI: 58.8%-61.7%) win rate for white, based on 3.0K Lichess games. Average game length is 32 moves with a 4.3% draw rate.
At 2500+ Elo, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 52.4% (90% CI: 49.2%-55.6%) win rate for white, based on 656 Lichess games. Average game length is 38 moves with a 10.7% draw rate.
In Bullet games, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 57.8% (90% CI: 56.0%-59.6%) win rate for white (2.0K Lichess games). Draw rate is 4.3%.
In Blitz games, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 59.3% (90% CI: 58.1%-60.6%) win rate for white (4.1K Lichess games). Draw rate is 4.3%.
In Rapid games, the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice has a 54.3% (90% CI: 50.7%-57.9%) win rate for white (513 Lichess games). Draw rate is 5.5%.
The Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Peresypkin's Sacrifice is statistically favors white with a 58.5% (90% CI: 57.5%-59.5%) win rate across all ratings. It performs best at 2200-2499 Elo. Your results depend on your rating, time control, and how well you know the typical plans.