English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A16, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 35,497 times by this move order. White won 50%, 5% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2… g6 (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.12 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2… e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bc5 5. Nxe5)
- ECO
- A16
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/5n2/8/2P5/2N5/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 2 2- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4,510 | |
| 1500-1999 | 19,289 | |
| 2000+ | 11,698 | |
| All | 35,497 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… g6 | 12,342 (35%) | |
| 2… e6 Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System | 8,993 (25%) | |
| 2… e5 | 3,838 (11%) | |
| 2… d5 Anglo-Grünfeld Defense | 2,667 (8%) | |
| 2… d6 | 2,185 (6%) | |
| 2… c5 | 2,167 (6%) | |
| 2… c6 | 1,782 (5%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 930 (3%) |
Master games
21,808 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 23%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- LCZero v0.24-sv-t60-3010 (3958) – Houdini 6.03 (3854) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-05
- Houdini 6.03 (3854) – LCZero v0.24-sv-t60-3010 (3958) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-01
- Houdini 6.03 (3854) – Komodo 2503.05 (3912) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-24
- Komodo 2503.05 (3912) – Houdini 6.03 (3854) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-21
- Ethereal 12.01 (3810) – Komodo 2503.05 (3912) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Guary1 (2887) – IM shuriks91 (2846) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- GM RealDavidNavara (2913) – Tempstream (2741) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2835) – FM Guary1 (2793) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System A17 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6
- English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Fianchetto Variation A34 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anti-Anti-Grünfeld A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e4
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.