English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation
Chess opening · ECO A16 · 3 half-moves
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation is reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3. It is Black's move in the position shown.
It branches from the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense with 2. Nc3.
How often it is played
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation and its variations appeared in 0.21% of games — 6,374 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 174 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 53%, 4.2% were drawn and Black won 43%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.15 — which is level. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| English Opening: King's English Variation | 1. c4 e5 | 0.87% |
| English Opening: Agincourt Defense | 1. c4 e6 | 0.38% |
| English Opening: Symmetrical Variation | 1. c4 c5 | 0.36% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System | 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 | 0.06% |
| English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense | 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 | 0.03% |
| English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Fianchetto Variation | 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 | 0.01% |
| English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anti-Anti-Grünfeld | 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e4 | 0.00% |
Check your own games
Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.
Open the analyzer