English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian

Chess opening · ECO A21 · 3 half-moves

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3

The English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian is reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3. It is Black's move in the position shown.

It branches from the English Opening: King's English Variation with 2. Nc3.

How often it is played

The English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian and its variations appeared in 0.57% of games — 17,092 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 81 of the openings listed here.

Results

White won 52%, 3.9% were drawn and Black won 44%. 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 +0.04 — 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.

OpeningMovesShare of games
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense1. c4 Nf60.46%
English Opening: Agincourt Defense1. c4 e60.38%
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation1. c4 c50.36%

Main continuations

VariationMovesShare of games
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf60.26%
English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc60.11%
English Opening: King's English Variation, Kramnik-Shirov Counterattack1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Bb40.03%
English Opening: King's English Variation, Keres Defense1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 c60.00%
English Opening: King's English Variation, Smyslov Defense1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 Bg40.00%

Check your own games

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