Bishop's Opening win rate

White scored 53.4% (margin 0.5 points) in 34,549 rated games of the Bishop's Opening, ECO C23, played between players within 100 rating points on 1 September 2026. It ranked number 12 of 117 openings by popularity and made up 2.1% of all games.

51.6%

44.7%

White wins 51.6%
Draws 3.7%
Black wins 44.7%

34,549 games

How often does White win in the Bishop's Opening?

White won 51.6% of the 34,549 games, 3.7% were drawn and Black won 44.7%. White's score of 53.4% is higher than White's score across all openings (51.9%) by 1.5 points, more than the margin of 0.5 points.

Results of 34,549 Bishop's Opening games, 1 September 2026.
Result	Games	Share
White wins	17,812	51.6%
Draws	1,284	3.7%
Black wins	15,453	44.7%

Does the Bishop's Opening score differently at different ratings?

White's score is highest at 1600 to 1999 (53.9%) and lowest at under 1200 (52.9%). That spread of 1.0 points is inside the two margins added together, so the data show no clear difference between the bands.

Players rated under 1200 choose the Bishop's Opening most often relative to their other openings, in 3.2 percent of their games.

White's score in the Bishop's Opening by the lower rating of the two players, 1 September 2026.
Rating band	Games	Share of the band	White score	Margin (points)
under 1200	8,737	3.2%	52.9%	1.0
1200 to 1599	15,447	2.6%	53.4%	0.8
1600 to 1999	9,466	1.6%	53.9%	1.0

How does the Bishop's Opening do in blitz, rapid and classical?

The time control changes who tends to win, because the clock matters more in faster games. Rows with fewer than 1,500 games are left out.

White's score in the Bishop's Opening by time control, 1 September 2026.
Time control	Games	White score	Margin (points)
Blitz	23,245	53.4%	0.6
Rapid	10,957	53.6%	0.9

What are the most played lines of the Bishop's Opening?

The most played named line is the Berlin Defense, with 6,466 games and a White score of 52.3%. The table lists the ten most played lines that reached 300 games; a line below that is counted in the last row.

Named lines of the Bishop's Opening, most played first, 1 September 2026.
Line	Games	White score	Margin (points)
Berlin Defense	6,466	52.3%	1.2
Boi Variation	4,523	54.7%	1.4
Vienna Hybrid	2,177	54.1%	2.1
Philidor Counterattack	1,248	55.1%	2.7
Vienna Hybrid, Spielmann Attack	897	56.4%	3.2
Ponziani Gambit	822	59.4%	3.3
Paulsen Defense	580	48.4%	4.0
Khan Gambit	349	55.9%	5.2
Calabrese Countergambit	301	53.8%	5.6
Main line and less played lines	17,186	52.9%	0.7

How were these opening statistics measured?

Rated Blitz, Rapid and Classical games on 1 September 2026 between players within 100 rating points, banded by the lower rating. A score is wins plus half the draws, with a 95 percent margin. The hub page explains the method in full.

Frequently asked questions

What is the win rate of the Bishop's Opening?

White won 51.6%, drew 3.7% and lost 44.7% of 34,549 games, a White score of 53.4% with a margin of 0.5 points. These are games on Lichess on 1 September 2026.

Is the Bishop's Opening good for White?

At these ratings White's score was higher than White's score across all openings (51.9%) by 1.5 points, more than the margin of 0.5 points. A difference of a point or two is small, and the side that picks an opening also picks which games reach it, so the number describes what happened at these ratings and is not a ruling on the opening.

What is the most popular line of the Bishop's Opening?

The Berlin Defense was the most played named line, with 6,466 games, which is 18.7% of the Bishop's Opening games.

Sources

Lichess open database, standard rated games (CC0), file for September 2026, read 2026-10-22

Related guides and tools

Last updated 2026-10-22.

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