Piece Pattern Atlas
Sicilian Defense: Kan Variation
Where each piece lives in the middlegame that follows, drawn from 4,077 real games.
Its usual journeys
- d8–c7986 games
- d8 · stays home822 games
- d8–b6120 games
- d8–d7110 games
When it leaves the board
Usually traded around move 20.
Survives past move 30 in 60% of games.
What its fate costs
Traded early (by move 8): Black wins 39%. Kept: 49%. (n=66 / 4,011)
When it reaches c7: Black wins 50%. When it never does: 48%. (n=1,890 / 2,187)
The choice
Move 3: d4 or Bc4?
Same opening, two futures for the queen. Real games, side by side.
d4
After d4, the queen spends 33% of the middlegame on c7; after Bc4, 13%. Black scores 50% here (n=2,493).
Bc4
After Bc4, the queen spends 66% of the middlegame on d8; after d4, 45%. Black scores 50% here (n=652).