English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense (1. c4 Nf6)

1. c4 Nf6

The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A15, reached after 1. c4 Nf6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 60,946 times by this move order. White won 50%, 5% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2. Nc3 (58% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. d4 Bb4+)

ECO: A15
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/5n2/8/2P5/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. c4 Nf6

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	8,578	50%47%
1500-1999	32,699	50%46%
2000+	19,669	50%43%
All	60,946	50%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. Nc3 Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation	35,497 (58%)	50%45%
2. g3	9,491 (16%)	51%44%
2. d4	6,458 (11%)	48%47%
2. Nf3 Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation	3,384 (6%)	52%41%
2. e3	3,097 (5%)	47%49%
2. d3	1,286 (2%)	49%45%
2. b3	745 (1%)	49%44%
2. a3	214 (0%)	46%51%

Master games

16,310 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 23%, Black 34%). The strongest:

Stoofvlees II a14 (3846) – Ethereal 12.01 (3810) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-06
Ethereal 12.01 (3810) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3846) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-03
Berserk 20250622 (3667) – Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-21
Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) – Berserk 20250622 (3667) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-19
KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) – Berserk20250622 (3650) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-23

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

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

English Opening 1. c4

Continuations

English Opening: Achilles-Omega Gambit A10 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. e4
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, King's Knight Variation A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
English Orangutan (1… Nf6 2. b4) A15 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. b4
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Anti-Benoni Variation A31 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 c5 3. Nf3
Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation (3… d5 4. b3) A12 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3
Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation (5… Nxd5 6. Nf3) D71 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3

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.