English Opening: King's English Variation, Troger Defense
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Be6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Troger Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A21, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Be6. 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 106 times by this move order. White won 58%, 3% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 5. b3 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.49 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. b3 Qd7 7. O-O Bh3)
- ECO
- A21
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r2qkbnr/ppp2ppp/2npb3/4p3/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Be6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 21 | |
| 1500-1999 | 51 | |
| 2000+ | 34 | |
| All | 106 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. b3 | 44 (42%) | |
| 5. d3 | 34 (32%) | |
| 5. e3 | 9 (8%) | |
| 5. Nd5 | 5 (5%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 5 (5%) | |
| 5. Bxc6+ | 4 (4%) | |
| 5. e4 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5. h3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
103 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 27%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- Obsidian 14.06 (3555) – Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-03
- Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) – Obsidian 14.06 (3555) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-01
- Koivisto 9.2 (3493) – LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-23
- LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) – Koivisto 9.2 (3493) 1-0 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-21
- Stoofvlees II b5 (3492) – Igel 3.5.5 (3502) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
Highest-rated Lichess games
- schoolchess93 (2587) – NM dschwarz (2523) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- howmuchisthefish2025 (2444) – zloyRW (2451) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Kartviller (2432) – Darth__Nihilus (2445) 0-1 · 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.