English Opening: Symmetrical Variation (3. Nf3 e5)

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e5

The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A35, reached after 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e5. 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 9 times by this move order. White won 33%, 11% were drawn and Black won 56%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nxe5 (44% of games).

Engine evaluation: +1.24 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 4. Nxe5 Nc6 5. Nxc6 dxc6 6. d3 Bd6)

ECO: A35
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pp1p1ppp/5n2/2p1p3/2P5/2N2N2/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4
PGN: 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e5

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	4	50%50%
1500-1999	4	25%25%50%
2000+	1	100%
All	9	33%56%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. Nxe5	4 (44%)	50%25%25%
4. e3	2 (22%)	100%
4. e4	1 (11%)	100%
4. d4	1 (11%)	100%
4. d3	1 (11%)	100%

Highest-rated Lichess games

MANYPAWNSDOWN (2158) – erciodo (2022) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Fedorov_Nikolay_64 (1886) – sarmadi48 (1941) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 5s
Hossein846 (1828) – Udung90 (1842) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Three Knights Variation 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3

More English Opening lines (all)

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.