English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Indian Formation
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Indian Formation is a chess opening classified as ECO A15, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,318 times by this move order. White won 51%, 6% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3. g3 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. h4 Bg7)
- ECO
- A15
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppppp1p/5np1/8/2P5/5N2/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 98 | |
| 1500-1999 | 468 | |
| 2000+ | 752 | |
| All | 1,318 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. g3 | 487 (37%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 388 (29%) | |
| 3. d4 | 214 (16%) | |
| 3. b3 | 83 (6%) | |
| 3. e3 | 64 (5%) | |
| 3. d3 | 35 (3%) | |
| 3. b4 English Orangutan (2… g6 3. b4) | 23 (2%) | |
| 3. h3 | 15 (1%) |
Master games
3,321 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 24%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Stockfishdev-20250802-a37b38bd (3731) – KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) – Stockfishdev-20250802-a37b38bd (3731) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) – LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-28
- LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-27
- GM Liren Ding (2791) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020-06-30
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM Stoichess (2717) – sunchess137 (2684) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- CSIM2026 (2646) – IM liczner (2740) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- notkevich (2728) – IM goofypenguin (2641) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3
Continuations
- English Orangutan (2… g6 3. b4) A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. b4
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Grünfeld Formation A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 d5
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Slav Formation A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 c6
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Indian Formation, Double Fianchetto A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7
- English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Duchamp Variation A38 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O c5 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3
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.