Openings · A10–A39

English Opening

A flank pawn first: fight for d5 from the side, and keep the centre pawns for later.

1.c4played as White

Play it through on the board below, and 8 moves into the main line.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded. The line runs on past the moves that define the opening and into the main line, because two moves is not a drill.

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Your move 1 of 50/5
  1. 1.c4e5
  2. 2.Nc3Nf6
  3. 3.g3d5
  4. 4.cxd5Nxd5
  5. 5.Bg2

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

The idea

1.c4 stakes a claim on d5 without putting a pawn where it can be attacked. Very often it becomes a Sicilian with colours reversed — 1…e5 is Black's Sicilian structure a tempo down — and White's extra move is worth exactly as much as knowing what to do with it.

The opening's real advantage is transpositional. It can become a Queen's Gambit, a Catalan, a King's Indian Attack, or stay a pure English with a fianchetto and a slow queenside squeeze, and the choice is made after seeing what Black commits to.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

Grabbing the centre too early

After 3…Nc6
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
The mistake
Playing d4 at once, as though 1.c4 were a first move to be corrected.
Why it costs
3…Nc6 hits the queen and Black develops with tempo. The flank move only pays for itself if the centre is opened when the pieces are ready — otherwise White has spent a move on c4 and then handed the initiative back.
Instead
2.Nc3 or 2.g3 first. In the Reversed Sicilian the break is d4 later or f4 sooner, and both need pieces out before pawns move.

The Symmetrical, opened by hand

After 4…e5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
The mistake
Trading on d4 in the Symmetrical and leaving the knight where it can be hit.
Why it costs
4…e5 kicks the knight immediately and 5.Nb5 d5 frees Black's game entirely. What was meant to be a space advantage turns into a knight on the rim and a black pawn centre.
Instead
3.Nc3 and 4.g3, keeping the symmetry until the fianchetto is in place. The break comes later, when …e5 can be met by a piece.

Fianchettoing into ...e4

After 4…e4
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
The mistake
Developing the knight to f3 after Black has prepared …e4 with …c6.
Why it costs
4…e4 gains space with tempo, drives the knight to a worse square and takes the long diagonal away from the bishop you have just fianchettoed. The move …c6 was the warning, and it is easy to read as a quiet move.
Instead
4.d3 first, or 4.Nc3, so that …e4 can be answered by taking or undermining. Against the …c6 and …d5 set-up, White's play is against the d5 pawn.

In real games between beginners

  • 1 in 85games end with White giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.
  • 1 in 56games end with White getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.

From 6,845 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.

What the engine says

After 1.c4, these are Black's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing Black's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 2 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. e5+0.1
  2. g6+0.3
  3. c5+0.3
  4. e6+0.3
  5. Nf6+0.3
  6. d6+0.4

The engine's main line from e5: e5 g3 Nf6 Bg2 d5 cxd5 Nxd5 Nf3.

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

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