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Zukertort Opening

Moves

White scores

51.6%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

49.6% won3.9% drawn46.5% lost

Theory 51.7% · Stockfish +0.2

Every level and clock · 78M games

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1.Nf3
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

White’s score gets better as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
48.9%46.9%4.5M
50.7%49.1%6.0M
50.8%49.3%8.5M
50.8%49.2%11M
51.3%49.5%13M
51.8%49.8%13M
52.6%50.3%10M
53.6%51.0%7.8M
55.1%51.6%2.5M

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does Black play next?

Black's most played reply is 1…⁠c5, the Sicilian Invitation.

Is the Zukertort Opening good?

Even for White, across every level and clock.

Everyone51.6
Stockfish51.7

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.2 for White

Floor 51.6 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

35th of 66 families White can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 59.4% · 2500+ ultrabulletWorst 44.7% · under 1000 classical

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 Zukertort Opening lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 39 Zukertort Opening lines, ranked

39 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
Zukertort Opening: Tennison Gambit, Brigg's Trap203K games
73.2%Floor 73.1%
2
Zukertort Opening: Lisitsyn Gambit Deferred38K games
58.2%Floor 57.8%
3
Zukertort Opening: Reversed Grünfeld1.1M games
57.0%Floor 56.9%
Zukertort Opening: Drunken Cavalry Variation14K games
57.1%Floor 56.4%
Zukertort Opening: Ross Gambit3.2M games
55.5%Floor 55.5%
Zukertort Opening: Polish Defense159K games
54.4%Floor 54.2%
Zukertort Opening: Ware Defense148K games
54.3%Floor 54.1%
Zukertort Opening: Queen's Gambit Invitation5.6M games
53.6%Floor 53.6%
Zukertort Opening: Arctic Defense593K games
53.7%Floor 53.6%
Zukertort Opening: Basman Defense214K games
53.2%Floor 53.0%
Zukertort Opening: St. George Defense279K games
53.2%Floor 53.0%
Zukertort Opening: Queenside Fianchetto Variation2.9M games
52.9%Floor 52.9%
Zukertort Opening: Wade Defense738K games
52.9%Floor 52.9%
Zukertort Opening: Nimzo-Larsen Variation850K games
52.6%Floor 52.5%
Zukertort Opening: Old Indian Attack2.9M games
52.4%Floor 52.4%
Zukertort Opening: Slav Invitation4.2M games
52.4%Floor 52.4%
Zukertort Opening: Santasiere's Folly71K games
52.6%Floor 52.3%
Zukertort Opening: The Walrus307K games
52.5%Floor 52.3%
Zukertort Opening: Dutch Variation1.3M games
52.2%Floor 52.1%
Zukertort Opening: Pirc Invitation4.4M games
52.1%Floor 52.0%
Zukertort Opening: Shabalov Gambit465 games
55.8%Floor 52.0%
Zukertort Opening: Sicilian Invitation5.8M games
52.1%Floor 52.0%
Zukertort Opening: Black Mustang Defense4.1M games
51.8%Floor 51.8%
Zukertort Opening6.3M games
51.6%Floor 51.6%
Zukertort Opening: Vos Gambit886K games
51.6%Floor 51.5%
Zukertort Opening: Kingside Fianchetto5.1M games
51.5%Floor 51.5%
Zukertort Opening: Double Fianchetto Attack121K games
51.4%Floor 51.2%
Zukertort Opening: Wade Defense, Chigorin Plan1.0K games
53.7%Floor 51.1%
Zukertort Opening: Herrstrom Gambit313K games
50.8%Floor 50.7%
Zukertort Opening: Quiet System832K games
50.5%Floor 50.4%
Zukertort Opening: Lisitsyn Gambit374K games
50.1%Floor 50.0%
Zukertort Opening: Tennison Gambit19M games
49.7%Floor 49.7%
Zukertort Opening: Reversed Mexican Defense1.7M games
49.6%Floor 49.6%
Zukertort Opening: Arctic Defense, Drunken Knight Variation13K games
49.6%Floor 48.9%
Zukertort Opening: The Potato26K games
49.4%Floor 48.9%
Zukertort Opening: Lemberger Gambit3.2M games
47.9%Floor 47.9%
Zukertort Opening: Speelsmet Gambit209K games
47.7%Floor 47.6%
Zukertort Opening: Ampel Variation9.2K games
47.0%Floor 46.1%
Zukertort Opening: Myers Polish Attack288 games
43.6%Floor 38.9%
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Zukertort Opening family scores 51.6% for White, from 78M rated Lichess games across 39 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
78M 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.