English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Three Knights, Fianchetto Variation (5… e6 6. Nc3)
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Three Knights, Fianchetto Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A37, reached after 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21 times by this move order. White won 48%, 19% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 6… Nge7 (90% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 6… Nge7 7. e3 O-O 8. d4 cxd4 9. Nxd4)
- ECO
- A37
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pp1p1pbp/2n1p1p1/2p5/2P5/2N2NP1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 1 6- PGN
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 16 | |
| All | 21 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Nge7 | 19 (90%) | |
| 6… d6 | 1 (5%) | |
| 6… h5 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
51 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 22%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Loek Van Wely (2656) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2793) 1/2-1/2 · PRO League Group Stage · 2018-02-28
- GM Jorge Cori (2652) – GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2612) 0-1 · Chess24 Banter QualD 2020 · 2020-09-08
- GM Alexander Ipatov (2621) – GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili (2605) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-TUR Super League 2015 · 2015-08-15
- GM Vladislav Nevednichy (2553) – GM Vasil Spasov (2564) 1/2-1/2 · Grand Europe Albena 2014 · 2014-06-06
- GM Ahmed Adly (2626) – FM Karthik Venkataraman (2470) 1/2-1/2 · 20th Dubai Open 2018 · 2018-04-05
Highest-rated Lichess games
- PotenciAjedrez (2564) – NM manneredmonkey (2610) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Lejeudufou (2294) – VESNA67 (2424) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- MangekyouRinnegan (2282) – BR_CHESS_MASTER (2272) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation (1… c5 2. Nf3) 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3
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.