# Best chess openings for 1000 elo, for White and Black

> Rated 800 to 1200 on chess.com? The openings that score best for White and Black at your level, with their first moves, from 2.3 million games.

1…d5 2.c4

The Queen’s Gambit, 1.d4 d5 2.c4. Between 800 and 1200 White scores 54.5% after 2.c4, three points above the average White game.

Around 1000 on chess.com, the Queen’s Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4) and the Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4) get White the best results, 54.5% each. With Black, the French (1.e4 e6) and the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6) score best against 1.e4, and the Benoni (1.d4 c5) against 1.d4. Every number here comes from games where both players were rated between 800 and 1200.

## Which openings score best at 1000?

Score here means wins plus half the draws, counted for the side playing the opening. At this level White averages 51.4% and Black 48.6%, so those are the numbers to beat.

| Side | Opening | First moves | Score | Average for that side |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| White | Queen’s Gambit | 1.d4 d5 2.c4 | 54.5% | 51.4% |
| White | Scotch Game | 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 | 54.5% | 51.4% |
| White | Bishop’s Opening | 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 | 53.1% | 51.4% |
| Black | French | 1.e4 e6 | 50.5% | 48.6% |
| Black | Caro-Kann | 1.e4 c6 | 50.5% | 48.6% |
| Black | Benoni | 1.d4 c5 | 50.9% | 48.6% |

## What should you play as White at 1000?

Either first move is fine. 1.d4 scores slightly better here, 52.2% against 51.1% for 1.e4, but what you play on move two or three matters more than which pawn you push first.

If you open 1.d4 and Black answers 1...d5, play 2.c4. That’s the Queen’s Gambit, it scores 54.5%, and about a third of players at 1000 already go for it.

If you open 1.e4, the Scotch is the line to know after 1...e5.

| After 1.e4 e5 | First moves | Played in | White scores |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Scotch Game | 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 | 10% | 54.5% |
| Bishop’s Opening | 2.Bc4 | 8% | 53.1% |
| Ruy Lopez | 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 | 7% | 52.7% |
| Vienna Game | 2.Nc3 | 5% | 52.6% |
| Italian Game | 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 | 19% | 51.9% |

The Italian is still the most played line, and it scores close to the White average. It’s a perfectly good opening. The catch is that by 1000 most of your opponents have seen it plenty of times.

### The Scotch Game

2…Nc6 3.d4 3…exd4

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4, and White recaptures on d4 with a big centre and open lines for the bishops and queen. White scores 54.5% after 3.d4 at this level.

## Is the London System good at 1000?

Sure. The London (1.d4 and an early Bf4) comes up in about one 1.d4 game in six, and White scores 52.7% with it, just above the 1.d4 average. You can learn it in an afternoon and play the same setup against almost anything. The Queen’s Gambit still scores more, probably because Black has to decide what to do about the c4 pawn from move two.

### The London System

1…d5 2.Bf4 2…Nf6

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6. White gets the bishop out first, then follows with e3, Nf3 and c3 against almost anything. At 1000 it scores 52.7%.

## What should you play as Black against 1.e4?

Pick the French or the Caro-Kann. Both score 50.5%, so with either one you do a little better than White, and the Sicilian is right behind at 50.2%. 1...e5 is the most common reply and the lowest scorer, at 47.6%.

| Against 1.e4 | First move | Played in | Black scores |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| French | 1...e6 | 10% | 50.5% |
| Caro-Kann | 1...c6 | 9% | 50.5% |
| Sicilian | 1...c5 | 13% | 50.2% |
| Scandinavian | 1...d5 | 12% | 49.8% |
| Open game | 1...e5 | 45% | 47.6% |

The French and the Caro-Kann share an idea. Black plays ...d5 on move two to challenge e4, and ends up with a solid centre that White can’t easily attack early on.

### The French Defence

1.e4 1…e6 2.d4

1.e4 e6 2.d4, and Black hits the centre with 2...d5. Between 800 and 1200 Black scores 50.5% with 1...e6.

## What should you play as Black against 1.d4?

The Benoni (1...c5) scores best, at 50.9%. 1...Nf6 scores 49.0% and is the more flexible choice, since it doesn’t commit your centre pawns yet. Almost half of players answer 1...d5, which scores 46.5%.

| Against 1.d4 | First move | Played in | Black scores |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Benoni | 1...c5 | 3% | 50.9% |
| Englund Gambit | 1...e5 | 8% | 50.6% |
| Indian setups | 1...Nf6 | 12% | 49.0% |
| Closed game | 1...d5 | 47% | 46.5% |

The Englund Gambit owes its score at 1000 to its traps. The famous one is ...Qe7 and ...Qb4+ against a bishop on f4, which wins the b2 pawn and often a lot more. Against someone who knows it, you’re mostly just a pawn down.

### The Englund Gambit

2.dxe5 2…Nc6 3.Nf3

1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3. Black gives up a pawn and hopes White plays a careless Bf4, so that ...Qe7 and ...Qb4+ can follow. It scores 50.6% for Black at this level.

## Which openings will you face most at 1000?

1.e4 in 62% of games and 1.d4 in 25%. The rest is split between 1.Nf3, the English (1.c4), 1.e3 and a handful of others. When you play 1.e4, almost half your opponents reply 1...e5, one in eight plays the Sicilian and about as many go for the Scandinavian.

## Does the Scandinavian work better in bullet?

It does. Most of the order holds in bullet, blitz and rapid, but the Scandinavian (1.e4 d5) scores 51.1% for Black in bullet and 48.1% in rapid. Probably because the early queen moves are quick to play and hard to punish with a minute on the clock, while with ten minutes White has time to find the punishment.

## Where do these numbers come from?

From 2.3 million rated online games played in October 2026, taken from a public game database. Ratings were converted to chess.com equivalents with a published rating comparison, and a game only counts when both players were between 800 and 1200. Games against computers and abandoned games were left out.

An opening’s score also tells you something about who plays it. Players who choose sharper or rarer lines are often a bit stronger than their rating, so treat a difference of one point as a coin flip. On chess.com you can check any line yourself in its games database, filtered by rating.

Before you switch to the Queen’s Gambit or the French, look at how your current openings are doing. Chesslord’s [insights](https://chesslord.app/chess-insights) split your results by opening, with White and with Black.

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