English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System is a chess opening classified as ECO A27, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3. 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 3,103 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3… Nf6 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.05 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3… Nf6 4. d3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. g3)
- ECO
- A27
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/2P5/2N2N2/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 3 3- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 773 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,392 | |
| 2000+ | 938 | |
| All | 3,103 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Nf6 | 1,172 (38%) | |
| 3… Bc5 | 606 (20%) | |
| 3… d6 | 387 (12%) | |
| 3… f5 | 332 (11%) | |
| 3… Bb4 | 245 (8%) | |
| 3… g6 | 166 (5%) | |
| 3… a6 | 55 (2%) | |
| 3… f6 | 24 (1%) |
Master games
3,272 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 20%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) – Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-10
- Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) – Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-07
- Stockfish dev16_20221027 (3625) – LCZero 0.30-dag-9a9c42d_784968 (3599) 1-0 · TCEC 23 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-11-14
- LCZero 0.30-dag-9a9c42d_784968 (3599) – Stockfish dev16_20221027 (3625) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-11-13
- GM Peter Svidler (2753) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2881) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Norway Chess 2014 · 2014-06-12
Highest-rated Lichess games
- slouuurps (2721) – spartak20 (2699) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- chaaa116 (2701) – GrazyHunter (2707) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- slouuurps (2755) – SchweizerSchach (2594) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (2. Nc3 Nc6) 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6
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.