English Opening: King's English Variation, Keres Defense
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 c6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Keres Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A21, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 c6. 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 317 times by this move order. White won 50%, 3% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bg2 (94% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 41; best line 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. d4 Na6 6. dxe5 dxe5)
- ECO
- A21
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/2pp4/4p3/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPP1P/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 53 | |
| 1500-1999 | 200 | |
| 2000+ | 64 | |
| All | 317 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Bg2 | 299 (94%) | |
| 4. d4 | 7 (2%) | |
| 4. e4 | 4 (1%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 4 (1%) | |
| 4. e3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 4. h3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
23 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 22%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Jose Rafael Gascon Del Nogal (2449) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 0-1 · Titled Tue 7th Jun Late · 2022-06-07
- GM Sergey Grigoriants (2569) – GM Baadur Jobava (2578) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Jan Early · 2023-01-03
- GM Mikhail Bryakin (2463) – GM Baadur Jobava (2578) 0-1 · Titled Tue 3rd Jan Late · 2023-01-03
- FM Franciszek Sernecki (2309) – GM Baadur Jobava (2578) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 25th Oct Early · 2022-10-25
- GM Abramovic, B. (2469) – WGM Irina Chelushkina (2265) 1-0 · ch-Central Serbia 2013 · 2013-02-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- elitefeline (2424) – Fed67 (2465) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- FM Keiparov (2443) – Mandarria-76 (2423) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- vtarsuk (2361) – MarinovicBozo (2434) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3
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.