Best chess openings for 1200 elo, and which tricks stop working

Between 1200 and 1500 on chess.com, the Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4) scores best for White, at 54.6%, with the Queen’s Gambit and the Vienna close behind. Against 1.e4, Black’s best results come from the French, the Caro-Kann and the Scandinavian, and against 1.d4 from the Benoni (1.d4 c5). Some of the tricks that pay off at 1000 are fading by now, and further down you’ll see which.

Which openings score best at 1200?

Score means wins plus half the draws for the side playing the opening. White averages 51.6% at this level and Black 48.4%.

What should you play as White?

Here 1.d4 has the edge, 52.3% to 51.2%, and the Queen’s Gambit is a big part of that. White plays it in more than a third of games that go 1.d4 d5, and it scores 53.8%. The London is a bit behind at 52.8%.

After 1.e4 e5, the Italian is still the most played, but three other lines score more.

If you like to attack, look at the Vienna. The knight goes to c3 instead of f3, so the f-pawn is free to come to f4. In rapid games at this level it scores 56.2%, more than any other line in this article.

What should you play as Black against 1.e4?

Any of the French (1...e6), the Caro-Kann (1...c6) or the Scandinavian (1...d5). They all get Black to within a hair of 50%, which more or less cancels out White’s extra move. 1...e5 scores 47.5%.

If you like sharp positions, the Sicilian is still a good pick. It’s now the second most common reply here, and it’s only a touch behind the French and the Caro-Kann.

What should you play as Black against 1.d4?

The Benoni (1...c5) scores 49.9%. 1...Nf6 scores 48.3%, and it’s the one to learn if you want an answer you can keep playing as you get stronger. Most players still go 1...d5, and it still scores the least, at 46.6%.

Which openings stop working around 1200?

The early queen attack is the obvious one. Under 800, 5% of games that start 1.e4 e5 see 2.Qh5. Here it’s under 1%. By now nearly everyone knows how to meet it, so people stop trying.

The King’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4) is heading the same way. Accepted, it scores 54.6% for White under 800 and 53.0% here, and above 1500 it drops to 50.6%, below the White average. For Black the Englund Gambit follows the same path, from 50.6% at 1000 to 49.8% here and 48.6% above 1800.

The Caro-Kann slips a little too, from 50.8% under 800 to 49.9% here. The difference is that it stays above the Black average all the way up, so you won’t need to replace it later.

Is the Vienna better in rapid?

Yes. It scores 53.1% in blitz and 56.2% in rapid, where you have time to set up f4 and actually play the attack. The Scotch doesn’t care much about the clock and stays around 54% to 55% in bullet, blitz and rapid.

Where do these numbers come from?

From nearly 2 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 1200 and 1500. Games against computers and abandoned games were left out.

An opening’s score also reflects who plays it. Players who choose sharper lines are often a bit stronger than their rating, so treat a one-point difference as noise. You can check any line yourself in the chess.com games database, filtered by rating.

If you’ve been playing the Vienna or the Caro-Kann for a while, Chesslord’s insights will tell you whether they score for you the way they score for everyone else at 1200, with White and with Black.