English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Nb6
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Nb6 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 Nb6. 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 57 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (93% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. O-O Be7 8. a3 Be6 9. d3 O-O)
- ECO
- A29
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/1nn5/4p3/8/2N2NP1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 2 7- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 10 | |
| 2000+ | 47 | |
| All | 57 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 53 (93%) | |
| 7. d3 | 3 (5%) | |
| 7. a3 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
697 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 32%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
- Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
- GM Anish Giri (2777) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) 0-1 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2018 · 2018-04-27
- GM Levon Aronian (2765) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2853) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015 · 2015-08-29
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1-0 · Carlsen Inv Final 4 · 2020-05-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- hierasousse (2600) – RoryMcCann (2650) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2533) – nolooz (2546) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2543) – CM JohnnyAnto (2406) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
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.