English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (5… Nc6 6. d3)
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d3
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line is a chess opening classified as ECO A29, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 8 times by this move order. White won 63%, -1% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 6… Be6 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.01 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 6… Be7 7. O-O Be6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Nxd5)
- ECO
- A29
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n5/3np3/8/3P1NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 8 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Be6 | 5 (63%) | |
| 6… Be7 | 2 (25%) | |
| 6… Bb4+ | 1 (13%) |
Master games
21 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 29%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Matthew J Turner (2538) – GM Yunguo Wan (2482) 1-0 · CellaVision Cup 2017 · 2017-08-06
- Armen Grigoriev (2216) – GM Vugar Rasulov (2483) 0-1 · 21st Troya Open 2013 · 2013-08-19
- FM Thomas Decker (2299) – FM Aung Thant Zin (2268) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Aug Late · 2025-08-12
- Poul Erik Nielsen (2215) – FM Daniel Vesterbaek Pedersen (2274) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-DEN XtraCon 2012-13 · 2013-01-27
- IM Shete Sammed Jaykumar (2377) – WIM Parva Behzad Nazif (2090) 1-0 · Titled Tue 20th May Early · 2025-05-20
Highest-rated Lichess games
- bakunochi (2447) – cherrypie00 (2482) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- AstroTasku (2082) – evgen230676 (2096) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- Grogu03 (1909) – Ukarello (1982) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (5. Nf3 Nc6) 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6
Continuations
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (6… Be7 7. O-O O-O) A29 · 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d3 Be7 7. O-O O-O
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.