Vienna Game: Stanley Variation, Three Knights Variation
C28 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6
White scores 51.5% here across 1,092 club games, and no common reply does noticeably worse than the rest.
What White actually plays here
Across 1,092 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 51.5% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d3 | 596 | 54.6% | 51.3% | holds up |
| Nf3 | 290 | 26.6% | 49.1% | holds up |
| f4 | 78 | 7.1% | 64.1% | holds up |
| a3 | 54 | 4.9% | 51.9% | holds up |
| Nge2 | 30 | 2.7% | 50.0% | 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.