English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined (5… O-O 6. b3)
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3
The English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined is a chess opening classified as ECO A14, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 49 times by this move order. White won 41%, 4% were drawn and Black won 55%. The most popular continuation is 6… b6 (29% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 6… d4 7. e3 c5 8. Ne5 Qc7 9. f4)
- ECO
- A14
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2P5/1P3NP1/P2PPPBP/RNBQ1RK1 b - - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 47 | |
| All | 49 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… b6 | 14 (29%) | |
| 6… c5 | 12 (24%) | |
| 6… dxc4 | 5 (10%) | |
| 6… a5 | 5 (10%) | |
| 6… d4 | 4 (8%) | |
| 6… Nbd7 | 4 (8%) | |
| 6… c6 | 4 (8%) | |
| 6… Nc6 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
461 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 23%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Sam Shankland (2710) – GM So, W. (2761) 0-1 · Armageddon Americas Win · 2023-03-12
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2729) – GM Daniil Dubov (2700) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2019 · 2019-08-01
- GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2643) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 1/2-1/2 · Zakovat Gambit Final 2023 · 2023-11-19
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2757) – GM Rasmus Svane (2633) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th Jul Late · 2024-07-09
- GM Ivan Cheparinov (2705) – GM Yue Wang (2686) 1-0 · TCh-CHN 2018 · 2018-05-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CSIM2026 (2663) – ji0sqwqgt (2674) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- NM manneredmonkey (2615) – CM vlaxaki (2572) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Nobody5002 (2537) – imsk (2545) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined (4… Be7 5. O-O) 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O
More English Opening lines (all)
- English Opening A10
- English Opening: Achilles-Omega Gambit A10
- English Opening: Adorjan Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense, Hickmann Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Chabanon Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Ferenc Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Lithuanian Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Löhn Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Schulz Gambit A10
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.