English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Bc5
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Bc5 is a chess opening classified as ECO A29, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5. 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 17 times by this move order. White won 18%, 0% were drawn and Black won 82%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (76% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.04 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. d3 O-O 8. O-O h6 9. Nxd5 Qxd5)
- ECO
- A29
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2n5/2bnp3/8/2N2NP1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 2 7- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 7 | |
| 2000+ | 10 | |
| All | 17 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 13 (76%) | |
| 7. Nxe5 | 2 (12%) | |
| 7. Ne4 | 1 (6%) | |
| 7. e3 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
111 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 42%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2832) 1/2-1/2 · WCh 2018 · 2018-11-21
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2832) 1/2-1/2 · WCh 2018 · 2018-11-13
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2779) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Norway Armageddon · 2019-06-09
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2845) – GM Anish Giri (2797) 1-0 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2019 · 2019-04-07
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 0-1 · Chessbrah Inv May 2020 · 2020-05-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Joss-Fritz (2354) – bbrelaunch (2374) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- King_TG (2336) – EzQueen (2232) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 900 + 0s
- Modwelll (2062) – b4lyoz (2210) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 1200 + 10s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (3… Nc6 4. g3) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3
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.