English Opening
Chess opening · ECO A10 · 1 half-move
1. c4
The English Opening is reached after 1. c4. It is Black's move in the position shown.
How often it is played
The English Opening and its variations appeared in 3.0% of games — 88,713 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 14 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 51%, 4.2% 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 +0.28 — a small edge for White. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| King's Pawn Game | 1. e4 | 59% |
| Queen's Pawn Game | 1. d4 | 26% |
| Zukertort Opening | 1. Nf3 | 2.6% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| English Opening: King's English Variation | 1. c4 e5 | 0.87% |
| English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense | 1. c4 Nf6 | 0.46% |
| English Opening: Agincourt Defense | 1. c4 e6 | 0.38% |
| English Opening: Symmetrical Variation | 1. c4 c5 | 0.36% |
| English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense | 1. c4 d5 | 0.28% |
| English Opening: Caro-Kann Defensive System | 1. c4 c6 | 0.18% |
| English Opening: Great Snake Variation | 1. c4 g6 | 0.15% |
| English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense | 1. c4 f5 | 0.04% |
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.
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