English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6
The English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A22, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 25,404 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 3. g3 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bb4 5. d3 d6)
- ECO
- A22
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/2P5/2N5/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7,153 | |
| 1500-1999 | 14,075 | |
| 2000+ | 4,176 | |
| All | 25,404 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. g3 Carls-Bremen System | 9,729 (38%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 5,708 (22%) | |
| 3. e4 | 3,169 (12%) | |
| 3. e3 | 2,752 (11%) | |
| 3. d3 | 2,656 (10%) | |
| 3. d4 | 371 (1%) | |
| 3. a3 | 310 (1%) | |
| 3. b3 | 245 (1%) |
Master games
1,893 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 19%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) 1-0 · Saint Louis Blitz 2020 · 2020-09-18
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2779) – GM Liren Ding (2805) 1-0 · 7th Norway Armageddon · 2019-06-13
- GM Levon Aronian (2792) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2784) 0-1 · 5th Zurich CC Blitz · 2016-02-15
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2726) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2828) 0-1 · Champions Showdown Blitz · 2019-02-23
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2723) 1-0 · Titled Tue 17th Feb 2026 · 2026-02-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- slouuurps (2747) – IM ARM__55555 (2869) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2855) – Tempstream (2740) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM sillyMASTER (2807) – NM MMM_Zhukovskiy (2689) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3
Continuations
- English Opening: Carls-Bremen System A22 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3
- English Opening: King's English, Mazedonisch A22 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Four Knights Variation (3. Nf3 Nc6) A28 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Adhiban Gambit A22 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 c6
- English Opening: King's English Variation, Bellon Gambit A22 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 b5
- English Opening: King's English, Erbenheimer Gambit A22 · 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 Ng4
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.