Opening guide
Sicilian Defense (B20) — win rates at club level
1.e4 c5, playing as black — data from 124,922,537 Lichess blitz & rapid games at 1600-1800.
The position
♜♞♝♚♛♝♞♜♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♜♞♝♚♛♝♞♜
How it scores at your rating
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| Rating band | Games | White / draw / Black | Score for black |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1600-1800 | 124,922,537 | 47.6% / 4.0% / 48.4% | 50.4% |
| 1400-1600 | 89,819,085 | 47.3% / 3.6% / 49.0% | 50.8% |
| 1800-2000 | 127,185,293 | 47.9% / 4.6% / 47.5% | 49.8% |
| 2000+ | 109,729,703 | 48.0% / 5.9% / 46.1% | 49.1% |
What white actually plays next
Top replies at 1600-1800:
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| Move | Games | Played | Win / draw / loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nf3 (Sicilian Defense) | 67,243,399 | 53.8% | 48.0% / 4.1% / 47.9% |
| Bc4 (Sicilian Defense: Bowdler Attack) | 15,174,312 | 12.1% | 45.1% / 3.8% / 51.0% |
| d4 (Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit) | 8,973,828 | 7.2% | 48.5% / 3.6% / 47.9% |
| Nc3 (Sicilian Defense: Closed) | 8,884,832 | 7.1% | 48.4% / 4.0% / 47.6% |
| f4 (Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack) | 7,486,078 | 6.0% | 48.4% / 3.4% / 48.3% |
| c3 (Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation) | 6,870,110 | 5.5% | 49.7% / 4.1% / 46.2% |
Common mistakes at 1600-1800
- Bc4 is played in 12.1% of games here but scores only 47.0% for white. After Bc4, e6 is the most common answer and scores 54.2% for black.
Model games
Real games from the Lichess masters database.
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| White | Black | Result | Year | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caruana, F. (2818) | Carlsen, M. (2882) | 1-0 | 2019 | View game |
| Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 1-0 | 2020 | View game |
| Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 1-0 | 2020 | View game |
| Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | ½-½ | 2020 | View game |
| Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 0-1 | 2020 | View game |
Recent club games in this line
Recent rated games at 1600-1800 — not model games, just what actually happens at that rating.
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| White | Black | Result | Year | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tatatatoyle (1620) | Jranbito (1614) | 0-1 | 2026 | View game |
| mima25 (1723) | Rafita2025 (1698) | 1-0 | 2026 | View game |
| Filipe2025 (1758) | wsplyy (1801) | 1-0 | 2026 | View game |
| rafits22 (1695) | basselfaoury (1780) | 0-1 | 2026 | View game |
Build a repertoire from here
See the full move tree for players in your rating band: 1600-1800 repertoire explorer (black) →