English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Ultra-Symmetrical Variation
1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6
The English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Ultra-Symmetrical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A36, reached after 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6. 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 274 times by this move order. White won 53%, 6% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nf3 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. Nf3 e6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nb5 d5)
- ECO
- A36
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pp1pppbp/2n3p1/2p5/2P5/2N3P1/PP1PPPBP/R1BQK1NR w KQkq - 4 5- PGN
1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 31 | |
| 1500-1999 | 102 | |
| 2000+ | 141 | |
| All | 274 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nf3 | 90 (33%) | |
| 5. e3 | 48 (18%) | |
| 5. e4 | 47 (17%) | |
| 5. a3 | 38 (14%) | |
| 5. d3 | 36 (13%) | |
| 5. Rb1 | 6 (2%) | |
| 5. b3 | 5 (2%) | |
| 5. h4 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
2,185 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 28%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 0-1 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-04
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-04
- Ethereal 14.24 (3535) – KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
- KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) – Ethereal 14.24 (3535) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier 2023 · 2023-09-06
- Stoofvlees II b1 (3511) – Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) 0-1 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TimeBombMan (2753) – CarlsbadTrainer (2660) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- TimeBombMan (2743) – Oleg946 (2618) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Penicillium_salamii (2642) – Johnizard (2643) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
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.