King's Pawn Game
Chess opening · ECO B00 · 1 half-move
1. e4
The King's Pawn Game is reached after 1. e4. It is Black's move in the position shown.
How often it is played
The King's Pawn Game and its variations appeared in 59% of games — 1,771,773 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 1 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 50%, 3.7% were drawn and Black won 47%. 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 +0.49 — 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.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Pawn Game | 1. d4 | 26% |
| English Opening | 1. c4 | 3.0% |
| Zukertort Opening | 1. Nf3 | 2.6% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| King's Knight Opening | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 | 15% |
| Sicilian Defense | 1. e4 c5 | 9.6% |
| French Defense | 1. e4 e6 | 6.4% |
| Scandinavian Defense | 1. e4 d5 | 6.1% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 1. e4 c6 | 5.7% |
| Pirc Defense | 1. e4 d6 | 2.5% |
| Modern Defense | 1. e4 g6 | 2.2% |
| Bishop's Opening | 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 | 1.7% |
Check your own games
Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.
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