English Opening: Neo-Catalan Declined
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7
The English Opening: Neo-Catalan Declined is a chess opening classified as ECO A13, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 134 times by this move order. White won 43%, 6% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (94% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 5. d4 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6)
- ECO
- A13
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2P5/5NP1/PP1PPPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 3 5- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 8 | |
| 2000+ | 126 | |
| All | 134 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined (4… Be7 5. O-O) | 126 (94%) | |
| 5. d4 | 4 (3%) | |
| 5. b3 Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 (4… Be7 5. b3) | 3 (2%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
88 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 40%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Yue Wang (2723) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2713) 1/2-1/2 · SportAccord Basque Men 2013 · 2013-12-17
- GM Sanan Sjugirov (2675) – GM Daniil Dubov (2699) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 20th Oct · 2020-10-20
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2627) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Junior Speed · 2020-09-21
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2650) – GM Andrey Esipenko (2684) 0-1 · ASEAN E-Sports Final 2026 · 2026-06-13
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2644) – GM Frederik Svane (2655) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-18
Search all games of the English Opening: Neo-Catalan Declined and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gelyaromanova (2725) – Mysterious_Spy (2785) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- CSIM2026 (2663) – ji0sqwqgt (2674) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- NM FedirBohatyrchuk1892 (2514) – IM mmsanchezchess (2707) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Neo-Catalan 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6
Continuations
- English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined (4… Be7 5. O-O) A14 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O
- English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined, Early b3 (4… Be7 5. b3) A14 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. b3
- Catalan Opening: Closed (6. O-O c6) E06 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. O-O c6
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.