King's Knight Opening 2...Nc6: Win Rate by Lichess Rating

King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation · 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 · CC0 name list

At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), Black scored 47.2% in 143,162 King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation games (±0.3; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).

Black won 45.3% of them, White won 50.8%, and 3.9% were drawn.

Black scores below 50% at this level (outside the margin)

In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, Black scored 47.2% (±0.3) with the King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (143,162 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

55.4%

White's score after 3.d4 at Lichess rating 1200–1499 · 29,559 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample

Highest-scoring reply at 1200–1499, among replies with 300+ games: 3.d4.

Position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6. 504,011 games in this sample reached it — 10,200 of them by a different move order.

At a glance

In this sample, White's score ranged from 51.3% (2100+) to 52.8% (1200–1499).
Treat this spread with caution: the margins are approximate (see How it works).
It appeared most often in the Under 1200 group (13.2% of that group's games).
Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (10.4%).

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 King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation 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. King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).

Under 1200108,116 games

White wins 50.7% · draws 3.5% · Black wins 45.7% · White's score 52.5% ±0.3 · how common 13.2%
1200–1499146,161 gamesIn the headline

White wins 51.0% · draws 3.5% · Black wins 45.5% · White's score 52.8% ±0.3 · how common 12.2%
1500–1799143,162 games

White wins 50.8% · draws 3.9% · Black wins 45.3% · White's score 52.8% ±0.3 · how common 9.0%
1800–209979,287 games

White wins 50.4% · draws 4.5% · Black wins 45.0% · White's score 52.7% ±0.3 · how common 6.0%
2100+27,285 games

White wins 46.1% · draws 10.4% · Black wins 43.5% · White's score 51.3% ±0.6 · how common 4.0%

"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 King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.

King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation — 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	111,024	50.5%	3.2%	46.3%	52.1%
Blitz	252,040	50.6%	4.3%	45.1%	52.7%
Rapid	135,964	50.5%	4.7%	44.9%	52.8%
Classical	4,983	50.5%	5.7%	43.8%	53.4%

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 White at each level

Top replies with at least 150 games. "Score" is White'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.Nf3 Nc6 by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined
Rating level	Reply · share · games · score
Under 1200	3.Bc4 ·40.4% · 43,646 · 52.8% ±0.5 3.Nc3 ·18.9% · 20,408 · 50.6% ±0.7 3.d4 ·17.1% · 18,416 · 54.6% ±0.7
1200–1499	3.Bc4 ·42.4% · 61,975 · 52.1% ±0.4 3.d4 ·20.2% · 29,559 · 55.4% ±0.6 3.Bb5 ·18.3% · 26,681 · 53.3% ±0.6
1500–1799	3.Bc4 ·41.7% · 59,652 · 52.1% ±0.4 3.d4 ·22.6% · 32,311 · 54.2% ±0.5 3.Bb5 ·19.5% · 27,904 · 53.6% ±0.6
1800–2099	3.Bc4 ·40.6% · 32,169 · 51.9% ±0.5 3.Bb5 ·23.9% · 18,912 · 53.2% ±0.7 3.d4 ·21.7% · 17,172 · 54.0% ±0.7
2100+	3.Bb5 ·34.5% · 9,415 · 51.1% ±0.9 3.Bc4 ·33.5% · 9,137 · 50.2% ±1.0 3.d4 ·18.9% · 5,156 · 52.5% ±1.3

Up next: related positions with a page

Earlier position: King's Knight Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Deeper line: Italian Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
Deeper line: Scotch Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
Deeper line: Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5
Deeper line: Three Knights Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3
Deeper line: Ponziani Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 (Italian Game: Two Knights Defense)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 (Italian Game: Giuoco Piano)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 (Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Traxler Counterattack)
Related line: 1.e4 c6 (Caro-Kann Defense)
Related line: 1.e4 d6 (Pirc Defense)
Related line: 1.e4 g6 (Modern Defense)
Related line: 1.e4 b6 (Owen Defense)

Other choices from the same position for Black: each one's own level and score, as on its page
Opening	Lichess rating level	Games	Black's score
vs Philidor Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6	1500–1799	37,716	47.8% ±0.5
vs Petrov's Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6	1500–1799	21,356	48.3% ±0.7

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: King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation (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.