Sicilian Defense: Mengarini Variation
B20 1. e4 c5 2. a3
Black scores 51.1% here across 427 club games — but the 39.1% who answer Nc6 score 47.0%, 4 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 427 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 51.1% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nc6 | 167 | 39.1% | 47.0% | below the line |
| d6 | 86 | 20.1% | 57.0% | holds up |
| e6 | 76 | 17.8% | 47.4% | below the line |
| g6 | 44 | 10.3% | 59.1% | 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.