English Opening: King's English Variation, Botvinnik System
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. e4
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Botvinnik System is a chess opening classified as ECO A26, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 6… Nd4 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 6… Be6 7. Nge2 h5 8. h4 Nh6 9. Nd5)
- ECO
- A26
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/ppp2pbp/2np2p1/4p3/2P1P3/2NP2P1/PP3PBP/R1BQK1NR b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. e4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Nd4 | 1 (50%) | |
| 6… Nf6 | 1 (50%) |
Master games
72 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 32%, draw 33%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- Stoofvlees II a14 (3746) – Arasan 22.0_c5b58e5 (3620) 1/2-1/2 · 5th TCEC Cup 2020 · 2020-04-25
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2811) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2684) 1-0 · 32nd ECC Open 2016 · 2016-11-11
- GM Gukesh D (2533) – GM Hrvoje Stevic (2580) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-FRA Top 12 2019 · 2019-05-22
- GM Pawel Jaracz (2465) – GM Artur Jussupow (2582) 0-1 · European Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-15
- FM Mark Heimann (2403) – GM Vladimir Akopian (2622) 0-1 · National Open 2022 · 2022-06-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Lulio8tonton (2332) – mightysonce (2372) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Shebith (1808) – helgezabka (1811) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 5s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Closed System, Full Symmetry 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6
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.