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
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. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,041 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 4… d5 (30% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.07 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4… Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nd5 e4 7. Nh4)
- ECO
- A29
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/2P5/2N2NP1/PP1PPP1P/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 162 | |
| 1500-1999 | 508 | |
| 2000+ | 371 | |
| All | 1,041 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… d5 | 309 (30%) | |
| 4… Bc5 | 278 (27%) | |
| 4… Bb4 King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (4. g3 Bb4) | 229 (22%) | |
| 4… d6 | 67 (6%) | |
| 4… e4 | 42 (4%) | |
| 4… g6 | 31 (3%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 28 (3%) | |
| 4… b6 | 16 (2%) |
Master games
775 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 24%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2755) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Sep Early · 2024-09-10
- GM Levon Aronian (2784) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2803) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-14
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM So, W. (2752) 1/2-1/2 · CCT Final KO 2023 · 2023-12-15
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2757) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) 0-1 · Chess.com Classic Winners · 2025-05-21
- GM Levon Aronian (2802) – GM Hao Wang (2752) 1-0 · 75th Tata Steel GpA · 2013-01-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- chessrun2020 (2707) – Crownforge_Chess (2642) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
- hierasousse (2600) – RoryMcCann (2650) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2590) – vwemby (2578) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation (3. Nf3 Nc6) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6
Continuations
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line (4. g3 Bb4) A29 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with .. d6 (5… d6 6. Bg2) A29 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. d3 d6 6. Bg2
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Bc5 A29 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line, with Nb6 A29 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6
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.