Bishop's Opening: Win Rate by Lichess Rating

Bishop's Opening · 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 · CC0 name list

At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), White scored 53.0% in 40,468 Bishop's Opening games (±0.5; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).

White won 51.2% of them, Black won 45.3%, and 3.5% were drawn.

White scores above 50% at this level (outside the margin)

In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, White scored 53.0% (±0.5) with the Bishop's Opening in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (40,468 games). Observed results, not causation.

Data period: games from 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026 (sample of the Lichess open database) · Page updated: 9 Oct 2026

3.5%

of rated games at Lichess rating 1200–1499 reached the Bishop's Opening · 42,158 of 1,195,994 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample

At 2100+: 0.3%. At 1200–1499: 3.5%. 10.2× as common at 1200–1499 as at 2100+.

Position after 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4. 135,533 games in this sample reached it.

At a glance

In this sample, White's score ranged from 51.8% (2100+) to 53.6% (Under 1200).
That spread is within the approximate margin of error, so this sample shows no clear difference between levels.
It appeared most often in the Under 1200 group (4.3% of that group's games).
Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (5.5%).

These are observed results for the selected games (rated, players within 200 rating points of each other). They describe what happened — they do not prove the opening caused the result.

Results by Lichess rating level

Each row shows how the Bishop's Opening games at one rating level ended: White wins, draws and Black wins, across all time controls combined. Rating level is the average Lichess rating of both players.

White won drawn Black won. Bishop's Opening — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).

Under 120034,830 games

White wins 51.8% · draws 3.6% · Black wins 44.6% · White's score 53.6% ±0.5 · how common 4.3%
1200–149942,158 gamesIn the headline

White wins 51.5% · draws 3.3% · Black wins 45.2% · White's score 53.1% ±0.5 · how common 3.5%
1500–179940,468 games

White wins 51.2% · draws 3.5% · Black wins 45.3% · White's score 53.0% ±0.5 · how common 2.5%
1800–209915,692 games

White wins 50.2% · draws 4.0% · Black wins 45.8% · White's score 52.2% ±0.8 · how common 1.2%
2100+2,385 gamesCompared with

White wins 49.1% · draws 5.5% · Black wins 45.5% · White's score 51.8% ±1.9 · how common 0.3%

"White's score" = wins + half of draws. "±" is an approximate 95% margin based only on the number of games. It does not cover sampling bias or related games (the same players appear many times), so real uncertainty is larger. "How common" = share of all sampled games at that level that reached this position. Ratings are Lichess ratings; they are not interchangeable with Chess.com or FIDE ratings.

Compare it with another choice from the same position, at the Lichess level and time control you choose: Compare in Find Your Opening (the comparison needs JavaScript)

Results by time control

Each row shows how the Bishop's Opening games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.

Bishop's Opening — results by time control, all rating levels combined (minimum 300 games per row)
Time control	Games	White wins	Draws	Black wins	White's score
Bullet	27,175	52.6%	2.0%	45.4%	53.6%
Blitz	70,807	51.1%	3.7%	45.3%	52.9%
Rapid	36,313	50.7%	4.5%	44.8%	52.9%
Classical	1,238	50.8%	4.4%	44.7%	53.0%

This table and the rating rows are separate summaries: rating levels are not split by time control here, and time controls are not split by rating. Observed results only; approximate uncertainty applies as above.

Most played replies for Black at each level

Top replies with at least 150 games. "Score" is Black's score after that reply (wins + half of draws). These comparisons alone can't show that one reply is reliably better — the margins are approximate and stronger or weaker players may prefer different replies.

Replies to 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined
Rating level	Reply · share · games · score
Under 1200	2...Nf6 ·32.9% · 11,430 · 48.6% ±0.9 2...Nc6 ·28.0% · 9,720 · 47.1% ±1.0 2...Bc5 ·11.9% · 4,125 · 43.2% ±1.5
1200–1499	2...Nc6 ·36.5% · 15,360 · 47.5% ±0.8 2...Nf6 ·29.9% · 12,592 · 47.0% ±0.9 2...Bc5 ·11.3% · 4,777 · 46.1% ±1.4
1500–1799	2...Nc6 ·38.6% · 15,607 · 47.5% ±0.8 2...Nf6 ·27.9% · 11,302 · 46.3% ±0.9 2...Bc5 ·12.0% · 4,850 · 46.0% ±1.4
1800–2099	2...Nc6 ·40.3% · 6,322 · 48.1% ±1.2 2...Nf6 ·29.8% · 4,681 · 47.2% ±1.4 2...d6 ·10.3% · 1,622 · 47.6% ±2.4
2100+	2...Nc6 ·43.0% · 1,025 · 49.3% ±3.0 2...Nf6 ·37.8% · 901 · 49.9% ±3.2

Up next: related positions with a page

Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 (Italian Game)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 (Scotch Game)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (Ruy Lopez)

Other choices from the same position for White: each one's own level and score, as on its page
Opening	Lichess rating level	Games	White's score
vs King's Knight Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3	1500–1799	219,369	52.4% ±0.2
vs Vienna Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3	1500–1799	30,703	53.0% ±0.5
vs Center Game 1.e4 e5 2.d4	1500–1799	24,136	53.8% ±0.6
vs King's Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f4	1500–1799	28,113	52.9% ±0.6

Each row is a separate page with its own games. A difference smaller than the two margins combined is no clear difference. Observed results, not causation.

Download these numbers: Bishop's Opening (CSV), released under CC0. For move-by-move exploration with your own filters, see the free Lichess opening explorer. This independent page lists each rating level and each time control in its own row for comparison.