English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Fianchetto Variation
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Fianchetto Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A34, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 885 times by this move order. White won 50%, 7% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3… Nc6 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.12 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3… d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nc7 6. d3)
- ECO
- A34
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp1ppppp/5n2/2p5/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPP1P/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 82 | |
| 1500-1999 | 396 | |
| 2000+ | 407 | |
| All | 885 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Nc6 | 387 (44%) | |
| 3… g6 | 158 (18%) | |
| 3… e6 | 125 (14%) | |
| 3… d5 | 105 (12%) | |
| 3… d6 | 60 (7%) | |
| 3… b6 | 23 (3%) | |
| 3… e5 | 14 (2%) | |
| 3… a6 | 4 (0%) |
Master games
1,552 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 25%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2792) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2791) 1-0 · 2nd Norway Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-02
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2872) – GM Daniil Dubov (2690) 1-0 · World Blitz 2019 · 2019-12-30
- GM Levon Aronian (2795) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2740) 1-0 · Tal Memorial Blitz 2016 · 2016-09-25
- GM Liren Ding (2809) – GM Dmitry Jakovenko (2719) 1-0 · 3rd Du Te Cup 2019 · 2019-04-21
- GM Liren Ding (2782) – GM Yi Wei (2734) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2015 · 2015-09-22
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Pookinator (2763) – JeromePanoSoler (2732) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- sergolvz (2585) – GolfeDuMorbihan (2712) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- El_Precisione (2588) – chess646464 (2580) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
Continuations
- English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation (5. Bg2 Nc7) A34 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nc7
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.