English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 (4… Be7 5. b3)
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3
The English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 is a chess opening classified as ECO A14, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 33%, 0% were drawn and Black won 67%. The most popular continuation is 5… O-O (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.15 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5… d4 6. e3 c5 7. exd4 cxd4 8. O-O)
- ECO
- A14
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2P5/1P3NP1/P2PPPBP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… O-O | 3 (100%) |
Master games
31 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 13%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2611) – GM Alexey Sarana (2686) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th May Late · 2025-05-13
- GM Erigaisi Arjun (2778) – IM Milosz Szpar (2487) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Jul Late · 2024-07-23
- GM Yifan Hou (2686) – IM Zaur Mammadov (2470) 0-1 · Nakhchivan Open 2015 · 2015-05-04
- GM Luca Jr Moroni (2565) – GM Matej Sebenik (2523) 0-1 · Mitropa Cup 2023 · 2023-04-19
- GM Grigoriy Oparin (2685) – IM Guillermo Baches Garcia (2326) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd May Early · 2022-05-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SindarO (2132) – RichardMajor (2126) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- azurit100 (2110) – psremac (2071) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Gruntfuttock (2153) – daniel2502 (1996) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Neo-Catalan Declined 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7
Continuations
- English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 (5. b3 b6) A14 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3 b6
- English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 (5. b3 c5) A14 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3 c5
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.