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
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. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 852 times by this move order. White won 53%, 3% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bb4 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 54; best line 4… Bb4 5. Qc2 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 Qe7 7. a3)
- ECO
- A28
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/2P5/2N1PN2/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 154 | |
| 1500-1999 | 429 | |
| 2000+ | 269 | |
| All | 852 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bb4 | 278 (33%) | |
| 4… d5 | 265 (31%) | |
| 4… Bc5 | 108 (13%) | |
| 4… d6 | 72 (8%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 40 (5%) | |
| 4… e4 | 33 (4%) | |
| 4… a6 | 17 (2%) | |
| 4… h6 | 15 (2%) |
Master games
1,364 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 24%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) – GM Liren Ding (2805) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Norway Blitz 2019 · 2019-06-03
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2778) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 0-1 · Chessbrah Inv May 2020 · 2020-05-15
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2754) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2857) 1-0 · chess.com SF Blitz 1m+1spm 2016 · 2016-08-23
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2754) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2857) 0-1 · chess.com SF Blitz 1m+1spm 2016 · 2016-08-23
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1-0 · Carlsen Tour Final 2020 · 2020-08-20
Highest-rated Lichess games
- smallsteps99 (2694) – JAGMM (2623) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Kovalev_Vitaly (2630) – RoryMcCann (2676) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Kovalev_Vitaly (2645) – GM grzechu96 (2628) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 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, Quiet Line (5. Qc2 Bxc3) A28 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 Bxc3
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation, Quiet Line (6… Re8 7. Qf5) A28 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 Bb4 5. Qc2 O-O 6. Nd5 Re8 7. Qf5
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.