Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack
B20 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4
Black scores 58.2% here across 3,156 club games — but the 13.1% who answer d6 score 54.9%, 3 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 3,156 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 58.2% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e6 | 1,262 | 40.0% | 58.7% | holds up |
| Nc6 | 1,197 | 37.9% | 60.7% | holds up |
| d6 | 412 | 13.1% | 54.9% | below the line |
| a6 | 81 | 2.6% | 50.6% | below the line |
| g6 | 72 | 2.3% | 59.0% | holds up |
| e5 | 56 | 1.8% | 36.6% | below the line |
| Nf6 | 51 | 1.6% | 49.0% | 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.