Most popular chess openings, by the numbers (20,708 top-player games)
Which chess openings are the most popular? Instead of a list from memory, we counted. 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). Every game is counted once under its opening family, using each site's own opening names. Score means points per game for the top player (win 1, draw ½); their averages were 73% with White and 67% with Black on Chess.com, 67% and 62% on Lichess.
Short answer
- The Sicilian Defense is the most popular opening on both sites. It came up in 1,102 of 6,843 Chess.com games (16%), and 48 of the top 50 players had it in their games. On Lichess it was also number one: 1,582 of 13,865 games (11%).
- Next on Chess.com: the English Opening (596 games, 9%) and the Queen's Gambit complex (534, 8%). Next on Lichess: the Zukertort Opening (1,399, 10%) and the Caro-Kann Defense (914, 7%).
- 1.e4 and 1.d4 are almost level at the top. The top 50 Chess.com players opened 1.e4 in 1,347 games and 1.d4 in 1,292 as White, scoring 73% and 74%.
- Popular is not the same as successful. Among the 12 most-played openings on Chess.com, the weakest result for the top players was in Ruy Lopez games where they had White: 60% in 150 games, 13 points under their White average. The best was in Réti Opening games where they had Black: 72% in 121 (+5).
- The sites differ. The Caro-Kann Defense is number 3 on Lichess but only number 9 on Chess.com in these samples.
1. On Chess.com: the 20 most popular openings among the top 50 blitz players
6,843 games, ranked by how often each opening family came up (either colour). Scores in brackets are versus the top players' own average with that colour; rows under 30 games are shown small, as hints only.
| # | Opening | Games | Share | Top-50 players who had it | Their score with White | Their score with Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sicilian Defense | 1,102 | 16% | 48 | 74% (+1) | 69% (+2) |
| 2 | English Opening | 596 | 9% | 50 | 72% (-1) | 68% (+1) |
| 3 | Queen's Gambit | 534 | 8% | 47 | 71% (-2) | 64% (-3) |
| 4 | Indian Game | 341 | 5% | 48 | 75% (+2) | 65% (-2) |
| 5 | Queen's Pawn Opening | 328 | 5% | 45 | 73% (+0) | 61% (-6) |
| 6 | French Defense | 327 | 5% | 45 | 77% (+4) | 71% (+4) |
| 7 | Ruy Lopez | 275 | 4% | 43 | 60% (-13) | 69% (+2) |
| 8 | King's Indian Defense | 273 | 4% | 45 | 74% (+1) | 60% (-7) |
| 9 | Caro-Kann Defense | 262 | 4% | 47 | 76% (+3) | 68% (+1) |
| 10 | Réti Opening | 216 | 3% | 47 | 73% (+0) | 72% (+5) |
| 11 | Italian Game | 212 | 3% | 40 | 75% (+2) | 55% (-12) |
| 12 | Nimzo-Indian Defense | 161 | 2% | 38 | 71% (-2) | 70% (+3) |
| 13 | Modern Defense | 156 | 2% | 44 | 71% (-2) | 74% (+7) |
| 14 | King's Indian Attack | 142 | 2% | 38 | 75% (+2) | 69% (+2) |
| 15 | Scandinavian Defense | 139 | 2% | 32 | 68% (-5) | 71% (+4) |
| 16 | London System | 127 | 2% | 34 | 71% (-2) | 58% (-9) |
| 17 | Slav Defense | 127 | 2% | 40 | 58% (-15) | 68% (+1) |
| 18 | Pirc Defense | 114 | 2% | 35 | 82% (+9) | 66% (-1) |
| 19 | Four Knights Game | 113 | 2% | 38 | 66% (-7) | 77% (+10) |
| 20 | Trompowsky Attack | 109 | 2% | 27 | 74% (+1) | 75% (+8) |
2. On Lichess: the 20 most popular openings among the top 100 titled players
13,865 games. Rows under 80 games with a colour are shown small. "Zukertort Opening" is Lichess's name for 1.Nf3 lines, and "Queen's Pawn Game" and "Indian Defense" cover 1.d4 and 1.d4 Nf6 lines that don't reach a named opening.
| # | Opening | Games | Share | Their score with White | Their score with Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sicilian Defense | 1,582 | 11% | 69% (+2) | 63% (+1) |
| 2 | Zukertort Opening | 1,399 | 10% | 64% (-3) | 59% (-3) |
| 3 | Caro-Kann Defense | 914 | 7% | 64% (-3) | 61% (-1) |
| 4 | English Opening | 784 | 6% | 68% (+1) | 65% (+3) |
| 5 | Queen's Pawn Game | 783 | 6% | 65% (-2) | 63% (+1) |
| 6 | French Defense | 595 | 4% | 67% (+0) | 63% (+1) |
| 7 | Queen's Gambit Declined | 528 | 4% | 71% (+4) | 59% (-3) |
| 8 | King's Indian Attack | 522 | 4% | 68% (+1) | 59% (-3) |
| 9 | Nimzo-Larsen Attack | 489 | 4% | 71% (+4) | 60% (-2) |
| 10 | Indian Defense | 476 | 3% | 67% (+0) | 63% (+1) |
| 11 | Modern Defense | 473 | 3% | 71% (+4) | 66% (+4) |
| 12 | Hungarian Opening | 300 | 2% | 64% (-3) | 68% (+6) |
| 13 | Benoni Defense | 299 | 2% | 73% (+6) | 61% (-1) |
| 14 | King's Indian Defense | 294 | 2% | 67% (+0) | 57% (-5) |
| 15 | Scandinavian Defense | 277 | 2% | 72% (+5) | 58% (-4) |
| 16 | Alekhine Defense | 263 | 2% | 59% (-8) | 58% (-4) |
| 17 | Ruy Lopez | 228 | 2% | 67% (+0) | 63% (+1) |
| 18 | Pirc Defense | 195 | 1% | 69% (+2) | 57% (-5) |
| 19 | Four Knights Game | 194 | 1% | 70% (+3) | 54% (-8) |
| 20 | Slav Defense | 183 | 1% | 71% (+4) | 62% (+0) |
3. What the popularity lists tell you
- Expect these openings. Four openings are in the top 10 on both sites: Sicilian Defense, English Opening, French Defense, Caro-Kann Defense. If you're building a repertoire, have an answer ready for each of them.
- Chess.com's catch-all names. "Indian Game" and "Queen's Pawn Opening" on Chess.com are 1.d4 Nf6 and 1.d4 lines that don't reach a named opening. They rank high because many players use flexible move orders, not because they're one specific system.
- Choose by results and style, not by popularity. For the score of every main opening, see the best chess openings for White and the best chess openings for Black, built from the same games.
- Your opponent's own list is what counts. These are averages across 150 strong players. The person you meet in a Chess.com league, club match or online tournament usually plays two or three openings far more often than anything else. Look them up before the game: the free opponent preview shows any Chess.com or Lichess player's most-played openings with each colour in seconds, and the $5 report adds where they score worst.
More from the same data: what the top 50 Chess.com blitz players play, what the top 100 titled Lichess 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 a few families merged (for example the Giuoco Piano into the Italian Game). 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. Share is the opening's games divided by all games in that sample. OpeningSpy is independent and not affiliated with Chess.com or Lichess.