English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Keres Variation (4. Bg2 c6)
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 c6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Keres Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A23, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 c6. 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 265 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 5. e3 (54% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.15 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. e3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. exd4 O-O)
- ECO
- A23
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp1p1ppp/2p2n2/2b1p3/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Bc5 4. Bg2 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 70 | |
| 1500-1999 | 157 | |
| 2000+ | 38 | |
| All | 265 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. e3 | 142 (54%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 48 (18%) | |
| 5. d3 | 46 (17%) | |
| 5. e4 | 13 (5%) | |
| 5. a3 | 12 (5%) | |
| 5. h3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 5. b3 | 1 (0%) | |
| 5. Qb3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
50 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 22%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Li Chao2 (2687) – GM Maxim Matlakov (2668) 1/2-1/2 · 8th RUS-CHN Summit Men Classical · 2012-07-04
- GM Ilia Iljiushenok (2534) – GM Sanan Sjugirov (2661) 0-1 · TCh-RUS Premier 2019 · 2019-05-01
- GM Alessio Valsecchi (2512) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2600) 1/2-1/2 · PRO League Group Stage · 2020-01-30
- IM David Klein (2456) – GM Sergey A. Fedorchuk (2643) 1/2-1/2 · 73rd Noteboom Mem · 2013-02-09
- GM Dimitri Reinderman (2583) – IM Liam Vrolijk (2478) 1/2-1/2 · Dutch Open 2019 · 2019-07-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FightChameleon (2504) – bombokobombo123456 (2686) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- anirudhha (2576) – arteeeeeeeem (2567) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- weakend23 (2507) – FM ALPH40 (2543) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
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.