English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6

The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System is a chess opening classified as ECO A17, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 8,993 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 3. e4 (29% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 d4)

ECO: A17
Moves: 4 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/2P5/2N5/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3
PGN: 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	854	51%45%
1500-1999	5,096	50%46%
2000+	3,043	51%42%
All	8,993	51%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3. e4	2,626 (29%)	54%40%
3. g3	2,416 (27%)	50%46%
3. d4	1,529 (17%)	49%47%
3. Nf3	1,131 (13%)	48%46%
3. e3	541 (6%)	50%47%
3. d3	453 (5%)	49%45%
3. a3	157 (2%)	50%43%
3. b3	60 (1%)	55%42%

Master games

7,089 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 22%, Black 29%). The strongest:

PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) – Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-07
Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) – PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-04
LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25

Search all games of the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

GM sillyMASTER (2835) – FM Guary1 (2793) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
IM MitsisGeorgios02 (2653) – FM Guary1 (2898) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
CM Rumbitttos (2646) – FM Guary1 (2883) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3

Continuations

English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Nimzo-English A17 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4

More English Opening lines (all)

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.