Bowdler Attack: Win Rate by Lichess Rating

Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack · 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 · CC0 name list

At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), White scored 48.4% in 17,399 Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack games (±0.7; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).

White won 46.7% of them, Black won 49.8%, and 3.5% were drawn.

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

In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, White scored 48.4% (±0.7) with the Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (17,399 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

1.1%

of rated games at Lichess rating 1500–1799 reached the Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack · 17,399 of 1,596,515 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample

At 2100+: 0.2%. At 1500–1799: 1.1%. 5.1× as common at 1500–1799 as at 2100+.

Position after 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4. 47,711 games in this sample reached it.

At a glance

In this sample, White's score ranged from 48.1% (Under 1200) to 50.4% (1800–2099).
Treat this spread with caution: the margins are approximate (see How it works).
It appeared most often in the 1200–1499 group (1.1% of that group's games).
Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (4.9%).

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 Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack 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. Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).

Under 12005,892 games

White wins 46.7% · draws 2.7% · Black wins 50.5% · White's score 48.1% ±1.3 · how common 0.7%
1200–149912,925 games

White wins 47.6% · draws 3.0% · Black wins 49.4% · White's score 49.1% ±0.8 · how common 1.1%
1500–179917,399 gamesIn the headline

White wins 46.7% · draws 3.5% · Black wins 49.8% · White's score 48.4% ±0.7 · how common 1.1%
1800–209910,013 games

White wins 48.4% · draws 4.1% · Black wins 47.5% · White's score 50.4% ±1.0 · how common 0.8%
2100+1,482 gamesCompared with

White wins 46.2% · draws 4.9% · Black wins 48.9% · White's score 48.7% ±2.5 · how common 0.2%

"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 Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.

Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack — 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	11,370	48.2%	2.1%	49.7%	49.3%
Blitz	25,586	47.7%	3.7%	48.6%	49.5%
Rapid	10,319	45.4%	4.3%	50.4%	47.5%
Classical	436	43.6%	5.0%	51.4%	46.1%

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 c5 2.Bc4 by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined
Rating level	Reply · share · games · score
Under 1200	2...Nc6 ·36.6% · 2,152 · 53.0% ±2.1 2...e6 ·30.2% · 1,778 · 54.2% ±2.3 2...d6 ·16.3% · 960 · 52.1% ±3.1
1200–1499	2...Nc6 ·40.0% · 5,165 · 50.0% ±1.3 2...e6 ·33.8% · 4,362 · 52.2% ±1.5 2...d6 ·15.8% · 2,046 · 50.7% ±2.1
1500–1799	2...Nc6 ·38.3% · 6,657 · 51.4% ±1.2 2...e6 ·38.3% · 6,657 · 52.5% ±1.2 2...d6 ·15.7% · 2,730 · 50.3% ±1.8
1800–2099	2...e6 ·42.8% · 4,287 · 49.9% ±1.5 2...Nc6 ·35.6% · 3,560 · 49.2% ±1.6 2...d6 ·14.4% · 1,444 · 47.7% ±2.5
2100+	2...e6 ·44.7% · 663 · 49.8% ±3.7 2...Nc6 ·31.8% · 472 · 51.6% ±4.4 2...d6 ·13.8% · 205 · 52.9% ±6.6

Up next: related positions with a page

Earlier position: Sicilian Defense 1.e4 c5
Related line: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 (Sicilian Defense: Open)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 (King's Knight Opening)
Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 (Italian Game)

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 Sicilian Defense: Closed 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3	1500–1799	14,594	51.6% ±0.8
vs Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4	1500–1799	13,694	51.5% ±0.8
vs Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation 1.e4 c5 2.c3	1500–1799	10,189	52.0% ±1.0

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: Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack (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.