Nimzowitsch Defense
B00 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4
White scores 52.4% here across 2,230 club games — but the 4.8% who answer f4 score 48.6%, 4 points worse.
What White actually plays here
Across 2,230 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 52.4% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nf3 | 846 | 37.9% | 56.0% | holds up |
| d4 | 768 | 34.4% | 50.7% | holds up |
| Bc4 | 215 | 9.6% | 52.8% | holds up |
| f4 | 106 | 4.8% | 48.6% | below the line |
| Nc3 | 79 | 3.5% | 43.7% | below the line |
| Bb5 | 65 | 2.9% | 49.2% | below the line |
| d3 | 51 | 2.3% | 52.0% | holds up |
| c4 | 34 | 1.5% | 47.1% | below the line |
| c3 | 26 | 1.2% | 61.5% | 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.