English Opening: Symmetrical Variation (5. d4 cxd4)
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. d4 cxd4
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A34, reached after 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. d4 cxd4. 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 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nxd4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.31 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 6. Nxd4 dxc4 7. Nxc6 Qxd1+ 8. Nxd1 bxc6)
- ECO
- A34
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp2pppp/2n2n2/3p4/2Pp4/2N2NP1/PP2PP1P/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. d4 cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nxd4 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
21 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 53%, Black 14%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2774) – GM So, W. (2767) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-11-19
- GM So, W. (2765) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2702) 1/2-1/2 · Tata Steel India Blitz · 2018-11-14
- GM David Navara (2729) – GM Erwin L'Ami (2613) 1/2-1/2 · 77th Tata Steel GpB · 2015-01-10
- GM Alexandr Predke (2666) – GM Boris Gelfand (2664) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-ISR 2024 · 2024-02-09
- GM Alexander Donchenko (2655) – GM Boris Gelfand (2629) 1/2-1/2 · 3rd Al-Beruniy Masters · 2026-02-13
Search all games of the English Opening: Symmetrical Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TheCypriot (2136) – aspaclaria (2122) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Four Knights Variation 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6
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.