English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Scandinavian Defense
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Scandinavian Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A15, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5. 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 215 times by this move order. White won 54%, 8% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 3. cxd5 (62% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.67 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 3. cxd5 c6 4. dxc6 Nxc6 5. d4 e5)
- ECO
- A15
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/2P5/5N2/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 38 | |
| 1500-1999 | 117 | |
| 2000+ | 60 | |
| All | 215 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. cxd5 | 134 (62%) | |
| 3. g3 | 23 (11%) | |
| 3. e3 | 19 (9%) | |
| 3. d4 | 15 (7%) | |
| 3. b3 | 7 (3%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 6 (3%) | |
| 3. d3 | 6 (3%) | |
| 3. c5 | 3 (1%) |
Master games
17 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 29%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- Pawel Sowinski (2064) – FM Drazen Dragicevic (2345) 0-1 · European Rapid 2022 · 2022-12-18
- Mohammad Mehdi Abbasi Abeluie (2117) – FM Casper Liu (2278) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Sep Early · 2023-09-19
- FM Stefan Tomici (2306) – Sandu Ungureanu (2083) 1-0 · 11th Arad Open 2018 · 2018-08-11
- WGM Laura Rogule (2256) – WCM Celia M. Rodriguez Guevara (1811) 1-0 · 46th Olympiad Women 2026 · 2026-09-16
- Laura Unuk (2017) – Urban Cretnik (1932) 1-0 · 19th HIT Open A 2014 · 2014-02-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gomelbel (2431) – Hiddenpawnmove (2567) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- NM FedirBohatyrchuk1892 (2513) – Smoky1 (2391) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Gambitgourmand (2385) – Martink_2001 (2408) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Scandinavian Defense, Exchange Variation A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5
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.