English Opening: Four Knights System, Nimzowitsch Variation
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4
The English Opening: Four Knights System, Nimzowitsch Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A28, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 398 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bc5 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 54; best line 4… Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb4 7. dxe5)
- ECO
- A28
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/2P1P3/2N2N2/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 68 | |
| 1500-1999 | 142 | |
| 2000+ | 188 | |
| All | 398 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bc5 | 164 (41%) | |
| 4… Bb4 | 143 (36%) | |
| 4… d6 | 45 (11%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 11 (3%) | |
| 4… a6 | 10 (3%) | |
| 4… h6 | 8 (2%) | |
| 4… Nd4 | 5 (1%) | |
| 4… g6 | 5 (1%) |
Master games
1,699 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 21%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-03
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-03
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2876) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2812) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss · 2019-10-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2861) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773) 1/2-1/2 · Cote d'Ivoire Blitz 2019 · 2019-05-11
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020-07-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM sillyMASTER (2855) – Tempstream (2740) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2807) – NM MMM_Zhukovskiy (2689) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- JeromePanoSoler (2708) – July16Q (2679) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation (3. Nf3 Nc6) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6
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.