Scotch Game
C44 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4
Black scores 45.9% here across 3,144 club games — but the 7.6% who answer d6 score 42.5%, 3 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 3,144 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 45.9% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| exd4 | 2,559 | 81.4% | 47.2% | holds up |
| d6 | 240 | 7.6% | 42.5% | below the line |
| Nf6 | 77 | 2.4% | 40.3% | below the line |
| Bd6 | 63 | 2.0% | 42.1% | below the line |
| f6 | 42 | 1.3% | 25.0% | below the line |
| Nxd4 | 38 | 1.2% | 39.5% | below the line |
| d5 | 37 | 1.2% | 48.6% | holds up |
| Qf6 | 34 | 1.1% | 29.4% | 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.