English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation
1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5
The English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A10, reached after 1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5. 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 3,890 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4. g3 (26% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.63 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. d4 e5 5. dxe5 Nc6 6. f4 Bb4)
- ECO
- A10
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnb1kbnr/ppp1pppp/8/q7/8/2N5/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 2 4- PGN
1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,114 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,400 | |
| 2000+ | 376 | |
| All | 3,890 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. g3 | 1,025 (26%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 983 (25%) | |
| 4. d4 | 891 (23%) | |
| 4. e4 | 288 (7%) | |
| 4. e3 | 248 (6%) | |
| 4. d3 | 196 (5%) | |
| 4. a3 | 94 (2%) | |
| 4. Qa4+ | 83 (2%) |
Master games
65 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 66%, draw 14%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2784) – GM Peter Heine Nielsen (2654) 1-0 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-13
- GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov (2654) – Timo Syvalahti (2121) 1-0 · TCh-FIN 2016-17 · 2016-10-09
- FM Vitalii Hryshko (2294) – IM Eduard Khatoev (2409) 0-1 · Titled Tue 9th Jan Late · 2024-01-09
- FM Ariel Tokman (2316) – FM Ruslan Kavyev (2339) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 27th Oct · 2020-10-27
- IM Gaston Needleman (2420) – Maximiliano Uelf (2234) 1-0 · ITT Mendoza IM 2020 · 2020-01-27
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Misha-she (2362) – Jeronkarji (2627) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Aymen2026 (2510) – IE2512 (2379) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Nacho90chess (2374) – ricardosardowa9 (2462) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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, Löhn Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Schulz Gambit A10
- English Opening: Great Snake Variation A10
- English Opening: Jaenisch 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.