English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation (8. bxc3 Ne5)
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Ne5
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A28, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Ne5. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 37; best line 9. f4 Ng6 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. g3 O-O)
- ECO
- A28
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/pppp1pp1/5n1p/4n3/2PN3B/2P5/P3PPPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 1 9- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Ne5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
10 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 40%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- IM Andreas Schenk (2491) – GM Sebastian Bogner (2599) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2014-15 · 2014-12-06
- GM Vakhidov, T. (2401) – GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2640) 1/2-1/2 · RBI Open Qualifier 3 2020 · 2020-12-02
- GM Bella Khotenashvili (2493) – IM Salome Melia (2452) 1/2-1/2 · 73rd ch-GEO w 2016 · 2016-03-28
- GM Zoltan Varga (2401) – FM Giuseppe Lettieri (2442) 0-1 · Vezerkepzo GM Oct 2022 · 2022-10-17
- WGM Narmin Kazimova (2271) – GM Nebojsa Nikcevic (2420) 1-0 · 4th Baskent University Op · 2019-06-21
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.