Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan
D02 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O Bg4 5. d4 e6
Black scores 50.2% here across 420 club games — but the 15.5% who answer Nc6 score 32.3%, 18 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 420 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 50.2% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e6 | 106 | 25.2% | 49.5% | holds up |
| Bf5 | 83 | 19.8% | 60.8% | holds up |
| Nc6 | 65 | 15.5% | 32.3% | below the line |
| Bg4 | 48 | 11.4% | 58.3% | holds up |
| g6 | 48 | 11.4% | 53.1% | holds up |
| c6 | 35 | 8.3% | 47.1% | below the line |
| c5 | 29 | 6.9% | 44.8% | 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.