English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Reversed Dragon
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Reversed Dragon is a chess opening classified as ECO A22, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5. 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 2,299 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 4. cxd5 (83% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6)
- ECO
- A22
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/5n2/3pp3/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPP1P/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 618 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,211 | |
| 2000+ | 470 | |
| All | 2,299 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. cxd5 | 1,902 (83%) | |
| 4. Bg2 | 289 (13%) | |
| 4. b3 | 32 (1%) | |
| 4. e3 | 25 (1%) | |
| 4. d3 | 19 (1%) | |
| 4. d4 | 12 (1%) | |
| 4. Nxd5 | 7 (0%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 5 (0%) |
Master games
2,008 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 23%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2020 · 2020-09-19
- GM Liren Ding (2811) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2776) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-11-18
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2748) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773) 1-0 · Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix · 2019-11-05
- GM Peter Svidler (2765) – GM Maxim Matlakov (2735) 1/2-1/2 · 70th ch-RUS 2017 · 2017-12-12
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2703) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2786) 0-1 · Aeroflot Open Rapid Final · 2013-02-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- alexlele2008 (2639) – JAGMM (2619) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- StochasticVolatility (2504) – GM AtalikS (2646) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Schwachschacher (2509) – JAGMM (2629) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 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.