English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Nimzo-English
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Nimzo-English is a chess opening classified as ECO A17, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4. 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 183 times by this move order. White won 46%, 5% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4. g3 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 d6)
- ECO
- A17
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/1bP5/2N2N2/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 2 4- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 22 | |
| 1500-1999 | 122 | |
| 2000+ | 39 | |
| All | 183 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. g3 | 67 (37%) | |
| 4. Qc2 | 24 (13%) | |
| 4. Qb3 | 21 (11%) | |
| 4. a3 | 20 (11%) | |
| 4. d4 | 15 (8%) | |
| 4. e3 | 14 (8%) | |
| 4. d3 | 14 (8%) | |
| 4. e4 | 4 (2%) |
Master games
178 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 30%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) – GM Luka Paichadze (2565) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 23rd Feb · 2021-02-23
- GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2659) – GM Aleksey Goganov (2604) 1-0 · St.Petersburg Rapid 2014 · 2014-08-31
- GM Igor Kovalenko (2657) – GM Dmitry Kryakvin (2560) 1-0 · 18th ch-EUR Indiv 2017 · 2017-06-03
- GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) – IM Harshavardhan G B (2436) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Mar Early · 2023-03-28
- GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2650) – GM Das Debashis (2501) 0-1 · Gibraltar Masters 2018 · 2018-01-31
Search all games of the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Nimzo-English and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Bullet-Sucks (2566) – BiletskiyDanylo (2694) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
- Dedi_Kharisma (2503) – EmirGamis (2351) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- X-Berg (2370) – CM Patryk10 (2394) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 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.