Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation
C22 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3
Black scores 47.5% here across 619 club games — but the 20.2% who answer d6 score 42.0%, 5 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 619 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 47.5% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nf6 | 225 | 36.3% | 48.0% | holds up |
| d6 | 125 | 20.2% | 42.0% | below the line |
| b6 | 100 | 16.2% | 47.0% | holds up |
| Bb4+ | 45 | 7.3% | 63.3% | holds up |
| Qe7 | 26 | 4.2% | 34.6% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.