English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed, with e3
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e3 e5
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Botvinnik System Reversed, with e3 is a chess opening classified as ECO A36, reached after 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e3 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 72 times by this move order. White won 54%, 3% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nge2 (93% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 6. a3 d6 7. Nge2 a5 8. d3 Nge7)
- ECO
- A36
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pp1p1pbp/2n3p1/2p1p3/2P5/2N1P1P1/PP1P1PBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. e3 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3 | |
| 1500-1999 | 38 | |
| 2000+ | 31 | |
| All | 72 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nge2 | 67 (93%) | |
| 6. d3 | 3 (4%) | |
| 6. h4 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6. Nd5 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
171 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 29%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- GM Ante Saric (2600) – GM Ivan Saric (2650) 1/2-1/2 · ch-CRO 2016 · 2016-01-27
- GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2604) – GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2629) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 30th June · 2020-06-30
- GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2584) – GM Pavel V. Tregubov (2585) 0-1 · World Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-29
- IM Alexey Reshetnikov (2492) – GM Pavel V. Tregubov (2589) 1/2-1/2 · 71st Moscow Blitz · 2017-09-03
- IM Raja Panjwani (2416) – GM Evgeny Romanov (2631) 0-1 · 9th Philadelphia International · 2012-07-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Kmd001_29290202 (2538) – licketgunmetal (2505) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- SuryaWahyudi (2455) – Tarmiel_LSM (2440) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Lesschess89 (2366) – FM Cortado (2364) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Two Knights, Fianchetto Variation 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 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.