Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation

Chess opening · ECO C23 · 4 half-moves

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5

The Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation is reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5. It is White's move in the position shown.

It branches from the Bishop's Opening with 2… Bc5.

How often it is played

The Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation and its variations appeared in 0.23% of games — 7,018 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 169 of the openings listed here.

Results

White won 53%, 3.4% were drawn and Black won 43%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.

What the engine thinks

Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.28 — a small edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.

Similar openings

The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.

OpeningMovesShare of games
Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf60.51%
King's Knight Opening1. e4 e5 2. Nf315%
Sicilian Defense1. e4 c59.6%

Main continuations

VariationMovesShare of games
Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. d40.01%
Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c30.01%
Bishop's Opening: Stein Gambit1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. f40.00%
Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qe20.00%
Bishop's Opening: McDonnell Gambit1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. b40.00%

Check your own games

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