English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Quiet Line (6… Re8 7. Qf5)
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Quiet Line is a chess opening classified as ECO A28, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 7… d6 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 7… d6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 9. Qh5 e4 10. a3)
- ECO
- A28
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqr1k1/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/3NpQ2/1bP5/4PN2/PP1P1PPP/R1B1KB1R b KQ - 6 7- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… d6 | 3 (60%) | |
| 7… Be7 | 1 (20%) | |
| 7… Bf8 | 1 (20%) |
Master games
110 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 28%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2753) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 1-0 · Lindores Abbey Prelim · 2020-05-20
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2785) – GM Anish Giri (2737) 1-0 · FIDE GP Paris · 2013-09-30
- GM So, W. (2776) – GM Hrant Melkumyan (2660) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com IoM Masters · 2018-10-24
- GM David W L Howell (2677) – GM Hao Wang (2709) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2023 · 2023-08-05
- GM Hrant Melkumyan (2670) – GM Ivan Popov (2592) 1-0 · World Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-29
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Kovalev_Vitaly (2653) – ferrariiii (2615) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- X-Berg (2360) – al1978 (2317) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- mardob (2333) – Ramina-Akula (2326) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Quiet Line (3… Nc6 4. e3) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3
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.