London System, with Be2 (4… d6 5. Be2)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Be2

The London System, with Be2 is a chess opening classified as ECO A48, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Be2. 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 207 times by this move order. White won 52%, 5% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 5… O-O (60% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.01 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5… O-O 6. h3 c5 7. O-O Qb6 8. Qc1)

ECO: A48
Moves: 9 plies
FEN: rnbqk2r/ppp1ppbp/3p1np1/8/3P1B2/4PN2/PPP1BPPP/RN1QK2R b KQkq - 1 5
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Be2

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	20	40%60%
1500-1999	94	47%47%
2000+	93	59%35%
All	207	52%43%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5… O-O London System, with Be2 (5. Be2 O-O)	125 (60%)	47%47%
5… Nbd7	25 (12%)	68%28%
5… Nh5	10 (5%)	70%30%
5… c6	9 (4%)	44%56%
5… Nc6	8 (4%)	50%12%38%
5… Bg4	8 (4%)	63%12%25%
5… b6	8 (4%)	38%12%50%
5… c5	7 (3%)	43%57%

Master games

129 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 31%, draw 20%, Black 49%). The strongest:

GM Leonardo Tristan (2536) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2798) 0-1 · Julius Baer Gen Cup Pl/In · 2024-09-25
GM Anton Korobov (2668) – GM Ivan Salgado Lopez (2622) 1-0 · TCh-TUR Super League 2017 · 2017-07-28
GM Rinat Jumabayev (2631) – GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov (2640) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com Rapid Wk2 Swiss · 2022-02-19
GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (2608) – GM Alexei Shirov (2659) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 · 2021-10-27
GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen (2621) – GM Andrei Volokitin (2638) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-20

Search all games of the London System, with Be2 and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

GM GrandByniolus (2615) – CH-Subject029 (2656) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Tushkanchik77 (2533) – Bebas_BKD (2541) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Tushkanchik77 (2527) – DanT13 (2513) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

London System (4. e3 d6) 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6

Continuations

London System, with Be2 (5. Be2 O-O) A48 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Be2 O-O

More London System, with Be2 lines (all)

London System, with Be2 (5… c5 6. Be2) A48

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.