English Opening: King's English Variation, Nimzowitsch-Flohr Variation
1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 e4
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Nimzowitsch-Flohr Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A20, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 e4. 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 395 times by this move order. White won 45%, 4% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nd4 (81% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3. Nd4 Nc6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Ne5)
- ECO
- A20
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/8/2P1p3/5N2/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 e4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 115 | |
| 1500-1999 | 185 | |
| 2000+ | 95 | |
| All | 395 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Nd4 | 320 (81%) | |
| 3. Ng1 | 31 (8%) | |
| 3. Ne5 | 28 (7%) | |
| 3. Ng5 | 8 (2%) | |
| 3. d4 | 4 (1%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. e3 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
268 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 26%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- Ethereal 14.06 (3532) – Stockfish dev-20230308-39da50e (3607) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-04-02
- Stockfish dev-20230308-39da50e (3607) – Ethereal 14.06 (3532) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-31
- Stoofvlees II b4 (3499) – LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) 0-1 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-04-03
- LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) – Stoofvlees II b4 (3499) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-31
- SlowChess Blitz 2.9 avx2 (3455) – KomodoDragon 3.2 (3569) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-04-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Viti86 (2579) – BishopAndSons (2678) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- lestri (2609) – byrize11 (2638) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- lestri (2613) – onthewaygm (2616) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation 1. c4 e5 2. Nf3
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.