English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (5… d6 6. Nge2)
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian is a chess opening classified as ECO A25, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 6… Bg4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6… h5 7. h3 Bc5 8. Rb1 h4 9. g4)
- ECO
- A25
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/4p3/1bP1P3/2N3P1/PP1PNPBP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Bg4 King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (6. Nge2 Bg4) | 2 (100%) |
Master games
9 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 45%, Black 11%). The strongest:
- GM Peter Svidler (2723) – IM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2526) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2019 · 2019-12-26
- GM Imre Jr. Hera (2568) – GM Gergely Kantor (2582) 1-0 · ch-HUN Rapid 2022 · 2022-07-15
- IM Tomas Kraus (2481) – GM Tomas Polak (2523) 1/2-1/2 · Ceske Budejovice GMA 2024 · 2024-07-06
- GM Anthony C. Kosten (2352) – GM Jakob Meister (2439) 1/2-1/2 · World Senior Teams +65 · 2023-09-22
- GM Felipe de Cresce El Debs (2552) – Lucas Do Valle Cardoso (2228) 1-0 · 6th Floripa Open 2020 · 2020-01-25
Highest-rated Lichess games
- crazylucky (2345) – WilKellermanChess (2321) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- shiputuki (1357) – Lionel_echec (1387) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation (1. c4 e5) 1. c4 e5
Continuations
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (6. Nge2 Bg4) A25 · 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e4 d6 6. Nge2 Bg4
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.