Polish Opening
Chess opening · ECO A00 · 1 half-move
1. b4
The Polish Opening is reached after 1. b4. It is Black's move in the position shown.
How often it is played
The Polish Opening and its variations appeared in 0.50% of games — 14,943 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 88 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 52%, 3.7% were drawn and Black won 44%. 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 -0.18 — which is level. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| King's Pawn Game | 1. e4 | 59% |
| Queen's Pawn Game | 1. d4 | 26% |
| English Opening | 1. c4 | 3.0% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Polish Opening, with d5 | 1. b4 d5 | 0.10% |
| Polish Opening: Czech Defense | 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6 | 0.05% |
| Polish Opening: King's Indian Variation | 1. b4 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 | 0.03% |
| Polish Opening: Outflank Variation | 1. b4 c6 | 0.02% |
| Polish Opening: Bugayev Attack | 1. b4 e5 2. a3 | 0.02% |
| Polish Opening: Birmingham Gambit | 1. b4 c5 | 0.01% |
| Polish Opening: Schiffler-Sokolsky Variation | 1. b4 e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. b5 d5 4. e3 | 0.01% |
| Polish Opening: Bugayev Advance Variation | 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 f6 3. b5 | 0.01% |
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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