Opening name: English Opening
Opening line: 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6
Lichess Board
Wikibooks Page
Winning percentages
White: 3576 (41.28%)
Black: 1916 (22.12%)
Draws: 3171 (36.6%)
English Opening
2...g6
Black signals his intention to reach a KID setup. White can choose to seize central space and transpose into a standard KID by playing 3. d4 or to stay in the English opening by playing 3. g3. This refusal to seize central space by white does give white some flexibility and tactical subtleties in return. As the usual idea in the KID is to undermine the white center the apparently dimmer 3. g3 signals that white will develop first and get some strong control over the center before actually advancing his central pawns, which will make it much harder for black to destroy them through a conventional KID strategy.
Most popular responses
3. d4 (King's Indian Defence) White intends to play e4 with this move. Developing this knight first also keeps options open for being able to play multiple lines against the King's Indian. Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (30163153 games)
3. Nf3 (English Opening) Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (1975954 games)
Engine Evaluation
Depth: 42
Score: +0.43
Best Move: e4
PV Line: 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bg7 7. Nxc6 dxc6
Historical games for English Opening
| Game | Result | Year |
| Carlsen, M. (2865) vs Mamedyarov, S. (2767) | 1-0 | 2022 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir (2803) vs Nakamura, Hikaru (2784) | 0-1 | 2013 |
| Carlsen, M. (2861) vs Erigaisi, Arjun (2725) | 1-0 | 2022 |
| Caruana, F. (2792) vs Mamedyarov, S. (2767) | 0-1 | 2021 |
| Svidler, P. (2751) vs Nakamura, Hi (2791) | 1/2-1/2 | 2016 |
| Ivanchuk, Vassily (2779) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2761) | 1-0 | 2009 |
| Grischuk, Alexander (2785) vs Bacrot, Etienne (2749) | 1/2-1/2 | 2013 |
| Karjakin, Sergey (2767) vs Nakamura, Hi (2764) | 1/2-1/2 | 2014 |
| Aronian, L. (2765) vs Mamedyarov, S. (2764) | 1-0 | 2019 |
| Nepomniachtchi, I. (2705) vs Nakamura, Hi (2814) | 0-1 | 2015 |