Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Linksspringer Variation
B00 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. d5
Black scores 48.7% here across 1,010 club games — but the 20.3% who answer Nd4 score 38.8%, 10 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 1,010 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 48.7% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nce7 | 633 | 62.7% | 53.2% | holds up |
| Nd4 | 205 | 20.3% | 38.8% | below the line |
| Nb8 | 100 | 9.9% | 46.0% | holds up |
| Nb4 | 54 | 5.3% | 46.3% | 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.