The Ware Opening: e5 – A Guide for White

The extra move 1.a4 does almost nothing for your development or centre control. That's why Stockfish gives Black a -0.37 advantage. But chess isn't won on evaluations alone — many club players don't know how to punish small inaccuracies. Your goal in this position is to develop naturally and hope Black overextends or picks a poor reply. The most common move by far is 2...Nf6, appearing in over 93,000 games. That's the engine's top choice and the one you should expect most often. After Nf6, you can follow up with Nc3, and if Black plays Bb4 you can continue with Nf3 — a straightforward developing scheme that keeps the position manageable.

When we ask Stockfish what to do after 1.a4 e5 2.e4, the engine recommends Black play 2...Nf6. That's a natural developing move that attacks your e4 pawn. If Black plays this way, you should respond with 3.Nc3, developing your knight and defending the pawn. Black's most likely reply at that point is 3...Bb4, pinning your knight. Then the engine suggests 4.Nf3, a simple and solid move that develops, prepares castling, and breaks the pin if needed. This line — Nf6 Nc3 Bb4 Nf3 — is the backbone of the opening. Nothing flashy, just sound development. If you reach this position, you have survived the opening with a small disadvantage that's entirely manageable at club level.

The Lichess database of 268,082 games gives us a clear picture of what happens in practice. White's win rate across all games is 42.8%, with 4.2% draws and 53.0% Black wins. That's not great, but it's not a disaster either. Let's break down the most popular replies and how White scores against each: - 2...Nf6 (93,622 games): White scores 41.8% — solid but Black scores better. - 2...Nc6 (59,134 games): White scores 43.3% — slightly better than against Nf6. - 2...Bc5 (32,202 games): White scores 41.9% — similar to Nf6. - 2...d5 (21,462 games): White scores 43.9% — a decent result for White, but this move is actually an inaccuracy. - 2...d6 (20,979 games): White scores 44.5% — the highest White win rate among the main replies. - 2...Qf6 (6,690 games): White scores just 39.0% — Black's worst result in practice, even though it's the second-worst move according to the engine.

The engine identifies three Black moves that fall below the standard set by 2...Nf6. Two of them are inaccuracies, and one is a clear mistake. If your opponent picks one of these, you should be in good shape: - 2...d5 is an inaccuracy that loses about 0.5 pawns compared to Nf6. Despite this, Black plays it in over 21,000 games, and White scores nearly 44%. It's a natural-looking central push, but it's not the best. - 2...d6 is also an inaccuracy, losing roughly 0.6 pawns. This is Black's safest-looking option in terms of White's win rate (44.5%), but the engine says it's objectively subpar. If Black plays this, you should be happy. - 2...Qf6 is a full mistake, losing about 1.1 pawns compared to Nf6. White scores a solid 39% here — but the engine says this position is much better for White than the score suggests, because Qf6 develops the queen too early and exposes it to attack. If Black plays this, look for ways to gain time by threatening the queen with tempo-gaining moves like Nc3 or d3 followed by Be3.