English Opening: Drill Variation
1. c4 e5 2. g3 h5
The English Opening: Drill Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A20, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. g3 h5. 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 57 times by this move order. White won 53%, 0% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. h4 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.50 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. Bg2 d6)
- ECO
- A20
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1pp1/8/4p2p/2P5/6P1/PP1PPP1P/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. g3 h5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 17 | |
| 2000+ | 36 | |
| All | 57 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. h4 | 25 (44%) | |
| 3. Bg2 | 20 (35%) | |
| 3. h3 | 6 (11%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 3 (5%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 2 (4%) | |
| 3. d4 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
382 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 16%, Black 48%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) – LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-13
- LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) – Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-12
- GM Vincent Keymer (2733) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2739) 1-0 · Tata Steel India Blitz · 2024-11-17
- GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2607) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1-0 · San Fermin Masters Final · 2021-07-10
- GM Hans Moke Niemann (2645) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2701) 1-0 · Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid · 2021-12-07
Search all games of the English Opening: Drill Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SaSeg (2477) – SecretOpenings37 (2535) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- SaSeg (2499) – Ho_eschatos (2503) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- avrchess64 (2433) – Ckaakk (2458) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation (1. c4 e5) 1. c4 e5
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.