English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (5. Bg2 Nxc3)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Nxc3
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A16, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Nxc3. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 91 times by this move order. White won 52%, 10% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 6. bxc3 (99% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.49 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. h4 h6 8. Nf3 c5)
- ECO
- A16
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pp1p/6p1/8/8/2n3P1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Nxc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 34 | |
| 2000+ | 56 | |
| All | 91 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. bxc3 | 90 (99%) | |
| 6. dxc3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
345 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 31%, Black 23%). The strongest:
- GM Veselin Topalov (2749) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2800) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-24
- GM Vladimir Malakhov (2700) – GM Ivan Cheparinov (2689) 1/2-1/2 · Black Sea Countries · 2012-09-17
- GM Anish Giri (2720) – GM Eltaj Safarli (2626) 1/2-1/2 · World Cities Team KO · 2012-12-28
- GM Yi Wei (2727) – GM Eric Hansen (2606) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Prelim · 2022-05-20
- GM Sandro Mareco (2648) – GM Alexander Ipatov (2662) 0-1 · St Louis Spring Classic A · 2017-05-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Papolabestia123 (2568) – TUZ7 (2438) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Snoow_man (2369) – Robertjunkai (2515) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Supermuha (2415) – Rashal01 (2364) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5
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.