Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation
C48 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5
Black scores 44.8% here across 471 club games — but the 15.1% who answer a6 score 33.1%, 12 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 471 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 44.8% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d6 | 168 | 35.7% | 52.4% | holds up |
| Bc5 | 93 | 19.7% | 44.6% | holds up |
| a6 | 71 | 15.1% | 33.1% | below the line |
| Bb4 | 70 | 14.9% | 36.4% | below the line |
| Nd4 | 27 | 5.7% | 59.3% | holds up |
"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.