English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 g6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line is a chess opening classified as ECO A24, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 g6. 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 191 times by this move order. White won 54%, 4% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bg2 (96% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 Bg7 6. Qe3+ Qe7)
- ECO
- A24
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1p1p/5np1/4p3/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPP1P/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 g6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 44 | |
| 1500-1999 | 113 | |
| 2000+ | 34 | |
| All | 191 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Bg2 | 183 (96%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 5 (3%) | |
| 4. d3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4. e4 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4. e3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
111 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 52%, draw 18%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2687) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770) 1/2-1/2 · Levitov Match March 24th · 2021-03-24
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2776) – GM Maksim Chigaev (2641) 0-1 · Titled Tue 23rd Aug Late · 2022-08-23
- IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher (2451) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2792) 1/2-1/2 · 1st 3-0 Thu 24th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-24
- GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2642) – GM Mustafa Yilmaz (2557) 1-0 · 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014 · 2014-03-13
- GM Pavel Ponkratov (2591) – GM Davor Rogic (2511) 1/2-1/2 · 26th TCh-CRO Div 1a 2017 · 2017-09-30
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ftower (2506) – stoqnstoqnov2003S (2532) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- luhem_chess (2459) – FM RMchess04 (2452) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- emiliofelixramirez (2424) – Da_Rubens (2349) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Carls-Bremen System 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3
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.