Opening Leak Lab

Sicilian Defense: Four Knights Variation

B45 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6

White scores 48.8% here across 409 club games — but the 12.5% who answer Bg5 score 44.1%, 5 points worse.

What White actually plays here

Across 409 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 48.8% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.

ReplyGamesShare White scoresVerdict
Be3 120 29.3% 51.7% holds up
Nxc6 83 20.3% 59.0% holds up
Ndb5 52 12.7% 51.9% holds up
Bg5 51 12.5% 44.1% 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.

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