English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (3… Nxd5 4. Nf3)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3
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. Nf3. 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 297 times by this move order. White won 57%, 5% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 4… g6 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.23 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… Nc6 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 e5 7. Bb5)
- ECO
- A16
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/8/3n4/8/2N2N2/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 29 | |
| 1500-1999 | 141 | |
| 2000+ | 127 | |
| All | 297 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… g6 Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (4. Nf3 g6) | 96 (32%) | |
| 4… Nxc3 | 88 (30%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 36 (12%) | |
| 4… c5 | 24 (8%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 17 (6%) | |
| 4… c6 | 13 (4%) | |
| 4… Bf5 | 8 (3%) | |
| 4… e6 | 8 (3%) |
Master games
201 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 51%, draw 22%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2779) – GM Ivan Zemlyanskii (2586) 1-0 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-05
- GM Sam Shankland (2671) – GM Yaroslav Zherebukh (2627) 1/2-1/2 · US Chess Masters TB 2017 · 2017-08-27
- GM Christian Bauer (2632) – GM David W L Howell (2655) 1/2-1/2 · 4NCL 2016-17 · 2017-01-14
- GM So, W. (2747) – GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila (2530) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2024 · 2024-12-26
- GM Nihal Sarin (2606) – GM Chongsheng Zeng (2561) 1-0 · Asian Continental Blitz · 2019-06-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ftower (2547) – schoolchess93 (2562) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- IM CleverKenkz (2448) – Cuni_chess (2553) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- abobaraa77 (2475) – Viva_La_Gloria (2470) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (4. Nf3 g6) A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 g6
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense (5. e3 e6) A17 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 e6
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.