Best chess openings for Black, by the numbers (20,708 top-player games)
"What should I play with Black?" Instead of opinions, here is what the strongest online players choose with Black and how they score with it. We used two samples: the top 50 players on the Chess.com blitz leaderboard (6,843 recent rated blitz games) and the top 100 titled players on Lichess (13,865 recent rated games, mostly bullet and blitz). Score means points per game for the top player (win 1, draw ½). With Black they averaged 67% on Chess.com and 62% on Lichess, so compare every defence with those averages, not with 50%.
Short answer
- Against 1.e4, the Sicilian Defense is the top players' first choice on both sites: 585 of 1,606 games on Chess.com (69%) and 837 games on Lichess (63%). The French Defense (70% in 176) and the Caro-Kann Defense (68% in 124) did just as well on Chess.com.
- Against 1.d4, they mostly answer 1...Nf6 (668 of 1,212 games, 63%), then 1...d5 (322, 64%). Both scored a few points under their 67% Black average, so 1.d4 was the tougher first move to meet in this sample.
- Best-scoring defence (enough games to count): on Chess.com the Modern Defense at 74% in 78 games; on Lichess the Modern Defense at 66% in 289.
- The defence White hates to face: on Chess.com the top players scored only 58% with White against the Slav Defense (64 games, against a 73% White average). On Lichess it was the Alekhine Defense: 59% in 131 (average 67%).
1. On Chess.com: replies to 1.e4
1,606 games where a top-50 Chess.com blitz player had Black against 1.e4 (only replies with 30+ games listed).
| Reply | Games | Share | Top players who used it | Their score with Black | vs Black average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1...c5: Sicilian Defense | 585 | 36% | 45 | 69% | +2 |
| 1...e5 (Open Games) | 451 | 28% | 45 | 66% | -1 |
| 1...e6: French Defense | 176 | 11% | 24 | 70% | +3 |
| 1...c6: Caro-Kann Defense | 124 | 8% | 30 | 68% | +1 |
| 1...d5: Scandinavian Defense | 80 | 5% | 9 | 68% | +1 |
| 1...g6: Modern Defense | 64 | 4% | 17 | 66% | -1 |
| 1...Nc6: Nimzowitsch Defense | 39 | 2% | 7 | 73% | +6 |
| 1...d6: Pirc Defense | 35 | 2% | 12 | 56% | -11 |
| 1...b6: Owen's Defense | 31 | 2% | 6 | 65% | -2 |
2. On Chess.com: replies to 1.d4
1,212 games where they had Black against 1.d4.
| Reply | Games | Share | Top players who used it | Their score with Black | vs Black average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1...Nf6 (Indian Defenses) | 668 | 55% | 45 | 63% | -4 |
| 1...d5 (Queen's Gambit and Closed Games) | 322 | 27% | 39 | 64% | -3 |
| 1...e6 | 87 | 7% | 12 | 66% | -1 |
| 1...g6 (Modern) | 38 | 3% | 15 | 71% | +4 |
| 1...d6 | 38 | 3% | 17 | 66% | -1 |
3. On Chess.com: every main defence, ranked by popularity
"Games as Black" counts games where the top player had Black in that opening (Chess.com's own opening names); "facing it" is the same opening with the top player on the White side. Rows need 30+ games as Black. Their averages: 67% with Black, 73% with White.
| Defence | Games as Black | Score playing it | vs Black avg | Games facing it (as White) | Score facing it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sicilian Defense | 611 | 69% | +2 | 528 | 74% |
| French Defense | 188 | 71% | +4 | 147 | 77% |
| King's Indian Defense | 126 | 60% | -7 | 157 | 74% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 122 | 68% | +1 | 145 | 76% |
| Nimzo-Indian Defense | 88 | 70% | +3 | 85 | 71% |
| Scandinavian Defense | 85 | 71% | +4 | 64 | 68% |
| Modern Defense | 78 | 74% | +7 | 81 | 71% |
| Slav Defense | 74 | 68% | +1 | 64 | 58% |
| Pirc Defense | 67 | 66% | -1 | 52 | 82% |
| Queen's Indian Defense | 64 | 63% | -4 | 41 | 80% |
| Grünfeld Defense | 39 | 68% | +1 | 36 | 72% |
| Petrov's Defense | 36 | 60% | -7 | 27 | 70% (small sample) |
| Semi-Slav Defense | 30 | 52% | -15 | 35 | 81% |
| Bogo-Indian Defense | 30 | 68% | +1 | 17 | 62% (small sample) |
4. On Lichess: every main defence, ranked by popularity
Top 100 titled Lichess players, rows with 80+ games as Black. Their averages: 62% with Black, 67% with White. "Indian Defense" is Lichess's name for 1.d4 Nf6 lines that don't reach a named defence.
| Defence | Games as Black | Score playing it | vs Black avg | Games facing it (as White) | Score facing it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sicilian Defense | 837 | 63% | +1 | 781 | 69% |
| Caro-Kann Defense | 583 | 61% | -1 | 353 | 64% |
| French Defense | 290 | 63% | +1 | 325 | 67% |
| Modern Defense | 289 | 66% | +4 | 203 | 71% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined | 253 | 59% | -3 | 303 | 71% |
| Indian Defense | 246 | 63% | +1 | 241 | 67% |
| Benoni Defense | 158 | 61% | -1 | 146 | 73% |
| Scandinavian Defense | 153 | 58% | -4 | 128 | 72% |
| Alekhine Defense | 146 | 58% | -4 | 131 | 59% |
| King's Indian Defense | 146 | 57% | -5 | 159 | 67% |
| Slav Defense | 93 | 62% | +0 | 92 | 71% |
| Pirc Defense | 91 | 57% | -5 | 109 | 69% |
5. So which defence should you play?
- There is no losing choice among the mainstream defences. Most of the big defences score within a few points of the Black average on both sites, and differences of 2 or 3 points are noise at these sample sizes. Choose by style, not by a rumour that one defence "doesn't work".
- If you like sharp, unbalanced games: the Sicilian Defense against 1.e4 and the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4. They're the most-played fighting defences at the top, and the Sicilian scored 69% for the top Chess.com players with Black (average 67%). The King's Indian scored below average on both sites, though, so it pays off mainly for players who know it well.
- If you like solid, low-theory games: the Caro-Kann Defense or French Defense against 1.e4, and 1...d5 with the Slav Defense against 1.d4. In blitz, a set-up you can play fast beats a sharp line you half-remember.
- If you want something offbeat: the Modern Defense (1...g6) was the one defence that scored above the Black average on both sites in these samples, and it cuts down your opponent's preparation.
- Your opponent's White repertoire matters more than the average. These are averages across 150 players. The person you meet in a Chess.com league, club match or online tournament has favourite lines and weak spots of their own. Check them before you pick your defence: the free opponent preview shows any Chess.com or Lichess player's top openings with each colour in seconds.
More from the same data: what the top 50 Chess.com blitz players play, the best openings for blitz, and a guide for every major opening with plans and data.
Method: Chess.com sample is the top 50 of the Chess.com live blitz leaderboard on 2026-10-20, each player's most recent rated standard blitz games (up to 150, at most six monthly archives) from the public Chess.com Published-Data API, 6,843 unique games played 2026-03-21 to 2026-10-20; openings use Chess.com's names from each game's ECO link, with the Alapin and Closed Sicilian merged into the Sicilian. "Queen's Gambit" on Chess.com files the Declined and Accepted lines together, so it isn't listed as a defence here. Lichess sample is the last 150 rated games of the top 100 titled players on the Lichess leaderboards (2026-10-18), grouped by Lichess family name. Games between two sampled players count for both. OpeningSpy is independent and not affiliated with Chess.com or Lichess.