Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System (4. b3 Bf5)
1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3 Bf5
The Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System is a chess opening classified as ECO A12, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3 Bf5. It is a line of the Réti Opening. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bb2 (67% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.03 (Stockfish, depth 37; best line 5. Bb2 e6 6. Bg2 h6 7. Nc3 Nbd7)
- ECO
- A12
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pp2pppp/2p2n2/3p1b2/2P5/1P3NP1/P2PPP1P/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3 Bf5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bb2 Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System (4… Bf5 5. Bb2) | 2 (67%) | |
| 5. Bg2 Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System (4… Bf5 5. Bg2) | 1 (33%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- IM Chan Hung Lu (2174) – FM Hoang Canh Huan (2404) 0-1 · ch-VIE 2022 · 2022-03-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- soyneno2000 (2286) – Eyes-0pen (2260) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- BeefyTurtle2 (2314) – rudi_sembiring (2196) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- ChessPlayer55555555 (1983) – ceslavs2 (1793) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 720 + 5s
Comes from
Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation (3… d5 4. b3) 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3
Continuations
- Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System (4… Bf5 5. Bg2) A12 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3 Bf5 5. Bg2
- Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, London Defensive System (4… Bf5 5. Bb2) A12 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. b3 Bf5 5. Bb2
More Réti Opening lines (all)
- Réti Opening A09
- Réti Opening: Advance Variation A09
- Réti Opening: Advance Variation, Michel Gambit A09
- Réti Opening: Advance Variation, Navara Gambit A09
- Réti Opening: Penguin Variation A09
- Réti Opening: Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit A09
- Réti Opening: Réti Accepted A09
- Réti Opening: Réti Gambit, Keres Variation A09
- Réti Opening: Zilbermints Gambit A09
- Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, Gurevich System (2… d5 3. e3) A11
- Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, Gurevich System (3… Nf6 4. Qc2) A11
- Réti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, Gurevich System (4… Nbd7 5. Qc2) A11
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.