English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, Delayed .. Nc6
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 Re8 6. O-O e4 7. Nd4 Nc6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, Delayed .. Nc6 is a chess opening classified as ECO A29, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 Re8 6. O-O e4 7. Nd4 Nc6. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 50%, 0% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 8. Nc2 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.02 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 8. Nc2 Bxc3 9. dxc3 h6 10. c5 b6)
- ECO
- A29
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bqr1k1/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/8/1bPNp3/2N3P1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 2 8- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 Re8 6. O-O e4 7. Nd4 Nc6
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Nc2 | 1 (50%) | |
| 8. Nxc6 | 1 (50%) |
Master games
29 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 28%, draw 27%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2748) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2764) 1-0 · Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix · 2019-11-17
- GM Denis Khismatullin (2714) – GM Vitali Golod (2573) 1-0 · 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 · 2014-03-04
- GM Vojtech Plat (2525) – GM Nikita Vitiugov (2724) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2021 · 2021-07-15
- GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko (2710) – IM Andreas Schenk (2491) 1-0 · Bundesliga 2014-15 · 2015-04-12
- GM Maciej Klekowski (2477) – GM Michael Adams (2688) 1/2-1/2 · European Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sonf_1 (2217) – SunG0dNika (2238) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- joricochales (1770) – Jlexa96 (1500) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 5s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Smyslov System 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bb4
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.