chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing
English (A10)
1 c4

Number of games in database: 11281
Years covered: 1851 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 34.9%
   Black wins 33.9%
   Draws 31.2%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Normunds Miezis  50 games
Colin McNab  46 games
Jaime Sunye Neto  45 games
Edvins Kengis  72 games
Tony Miles  58 games
Nenad Sulava  57 games
NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]
White Wins Black Wins
Karpov vs Miles, 1978
Smyslov vs V Liberzon, 1969
Portisch vs I Radulov, 1969
E Nikolic vs Fischer, 1968
F Cathely vs M Hadzikaric, 1995
Psakhis vs Kasparov, 1990
<< previous chapter next chapter >>

 page 1 of 452; games 1-25 of 11,281 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. F Deacon vs I Szabo  1-0161851London Chess Club InvitationalA10 English
2. Horwitz vs Bird ½-½541851LondonA10 English
3. Staunton vs Horwitz 0-1941851LondonA10 English
4. Staunton vs Horwitz ½-½351851LondonA10 English
5. M Wyvill vs Anderssen 0-1271851LondonA10 English
6. M Wyvill vs Anderssen 1-0491851LondonA10 English
7. Lowenthal vs Harrwitz 0-1411853Harrwitz - LowenthalA10 English
8. V Green vs C Kenny  ½-½321855MatchA10 English
9. J Laroche vs de Riviere  0-1451855Laroche - de RiviereA10 English
10. T Frere vs Paulsen 0-1411857Blindfold simul, 5bA10 English
11. E Pindar vs Blackburne  1-0261861Blackburne - Pindar m(1)A10 English
12. J Owen vs A Mongredien  1-06318625th BCA Congress, LondonA10 English
13. S Solomons vs V Green 0-1371862B.C.A. Handicap tA10 English
14. S Solomons vs Mackenzie 0-1331862B.C.A. Handicap tA10 English
15. S Solomons vs Mackenzie  0-1341862B.C.A. Handicap tA10 English
16. S Solomons vs V Green  0-1601862B.C.A. Handicap tA10 English
17. J Owen vs Steinitz 1-06118625th BCA Congress, LondonA10 English
18. G MacDonnell vs Mackenzie ½-½371863MacDonnell - Mackenzie 1862/63A10 English
19. de Vere vs de Riviere 1-0261867ParisA10 English
20. Detroit vs New York Chess Club ½-½431867MatchA10 English
21. de Vere vs Steinitz 0-1761867ParisA10 English
22. S Sedgefield vs A Burns 0-1421868MatchA10 English
23. Stephenson vs E Schallopp  0-1521868Blindfold simulA10 English
24. R Hale vs A Burns 0-1291868Adelaide CC v Melbourne CC Telegraph MatchA10 English
25. A Johnston vs Mackenzie 0-13118712nd American Chess Congress, ClevelandA10 English
 page 1 of 452; games 1-25 of 11,281 
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Feb-26-09  ILikeFruits: i love...
the french...
Feb-26-09  I Like Fish: i love...
the birds...
the bees...
the flowers...
and...
the trees...
Feb-27-09  ILikeFruits: hello fish...
Feb-27-09  I Like Fish: La vie est vaine...
Un peu d'amour...
Un peu de haine...
Et puis bonjour...

La vie est brève...
Un peu d'espoir...
Un peu de rêve...
Et puis bonsoir...

Feb-27-09  ILikeFruits: are you...
french...
Feb-27-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: Oui...Oui....
Feb-28-09  ILikeFruits: wee...
wee...
Feb-28-09  I Like Fish: hello fruits...
I...
do not...
remember...
the exact...
words...

Ça promet...

Mar-09-09  parisattack: <chessman95: I don't try this one very often: it looks a bit passive. This move dosn't help develop any peices and I find it annoying that often I can't pin black's knight on C6 because the pawn is in the way. Also, it immediatly tells black (unless the white player is crazy) that white will be castling on the king-side, so as black I usually start preparing an attack on that side of the board when my opponent uses the English. It dosen't encourage me to use it that the winning percentage for white and black is almost equal on this site.>

None of the hypermodern openings for White have fared too well at the top level the past few years. I suppose the English is the least 'hyper' of them.

Its a great opening if you have the positional touch - although its fun to compare how different players have worked it - Reti, Flohr, Botvinnik, Tal, Stein. Tal and Stein got some fairly lively games out of it...

Mar-10-09  chessman95: English Games are very active for such an 'anti-developmental' move, but I think the reason is more because black always gets crazy attacks on white than because white gets open peice play. Good for the defensive player!
Jun-02-09  ILikeFruits: i believe...
english is better...
than italian...
but french...
is better...
than sicilian...
which is...
also better...
than polish...
i like...
russian...
Jul-25-09  whiteshark: Opening of the Day <Jaenisch Gambit <1.c4 b5>>

Opening Explorer

Mar-09-10  rapidcitychess: The English Bremen <1 c4 e5> is very good. I always play the Rossililomo reversed. My move order is <1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 g3 Bb4!> Black takes a lot of drive out of the English without White's Queen Knight. If you remember, white can play 2 Bg5 in the dutch and do a lot of damage. If black tries the main line <1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Bb4 3 Nd5! Be7 4 d4 d6 5 e4 Nf6! 6 Nxe7 Qxe7 7 f3>


click for larger view

/

May-12-10  Archswindler: <chessman95: English Games are very active for such an 'anti-developmental' move, but I think the reason is more because black always gets crazy attacks on white than because white gets open peice play. Good for the defensive player!>

I don't think you understand the English very well at all. If black is getting 'crazy attacks', it's because white is a patzer and is handling the opening wrong.

Mar-05-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Opening of the Day

Jaenisch Gambit
1.c4 b5


click for larger view

Sep-23-13  Kikoman:

<Opening of the Day>

Jaenisch Gambit

1. c4 b5


click for larger view

Aug-03-14  ljfyffe: James Narraway(New Brunswick)- D. Waters (Minnesota)-1886 correspondence-< 1c4 e6 2e3 c5 3g3 Nf6 4Bg2 d5 5Ne2 Bd6 6Nbc3 dxc4 7Qa4+ Bd7 8Qxc4 Nc6 9d4 Na510Qd3 c4 11Qc2 a6 12f4 Nc6 13a3 b5 14e4 Bc7 15e5 Nh5 16Ne4 f5 17Nc5 Qc8 18Nxe6 Ba5+ 19Bd2 Bxd2+ 20Qxd2 Bxe6 21d5 Bd7 22Nd4 Nxd4 23Qxd4 Qb7 24Bf3 g6 25e6 0-0-0 260-0 Bc6 27Qc5 Kb8
28dxc6 Qa7 29Qxa7+ Kxa7 30Rad1 Rxd1+ 31Rxd1 1-0>
Aug-04-14  ljfyffe: Date refers to when game printed in St. John Globe.
Oct-16-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: I could see the Jaenisch Gambit being effective in blitz.
Aug-01-23  Chesschronicle22: How I ignored the english and played like any 800 would. 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bd3 Bc5 5.N- f3 g6 6.O-O d6 7.Qc2 O-O 8.a3 a6 9.b4 B- a7 10.b5 axb5 11.cxb5 Ne7 12.a4 c6 13.Rb1-  Bc5 14.bxc6 Nxc6 15.Nb5 Nb4 16.Qb3 e4 1- 7.Bc4 exf3 18.gxf3 Bh3 19.Re1 Ne4 20.fxe4  0-1
(note: this is a game playes by 1100's)
Aug-01-23  Chesschronicle22: (I was black)
Aug-02-23  Messiah: <Chesschronicle22: (I was black)>

That's racist.

Aug-02-23  Chesschronicle22: I meant I was the black pieces
Sep-21-23  Chesschronicle22: 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 e6 5. Bd3 g5 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 b5 8. Bxb5 a6 9. Bd3 h5 10. Bxf5 Rh6 11. Nge2 Bd6 12. Qc2 Kf8 13. e4 Ne8 14. h4 Qf6 15. hxg5 Qg7 16. gxh6 Qxg2 17. Rg1 Qf3 18. Bh7 Nf6 19. e5 Bxe5 20. Qg6 Bxc3 21. bxc3+ Nxh7 22. Qg8 Ke7+ 23. Rg7 Kd6+ 24. Rxh7 Qh1 25. Ng1+ Qe4 26. Be3+ Nc6 27. Rg7 Ne7 28. Qf7 Nxd5 29. h7 Nxe3 30. fxe3 Qxe3 31. Ne2+ Qxe2 32. Kxe2+ Kc6 33. h8=Q Rb8 34. Rd1 Rb2 35. Rd2+ Rxd2 36. Kxd2+ Kb6 37. Qf6 Ka7+ 38. Qhd8 a5 39. Qfb6 Ka8+ 40. Qxc8 *
Sep-21-23  Chesschronicle22: unnecessarily long game
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. d4 e6 5. Bd3 g5 6. d5 exd5 7. cxd5 Bd6 8. Bxf5 a5 9. Nge2 Ra6 10. e4 Rg8 11. Qc2 h5 12. g3 Qe7 13. h4 gxh4 14. Rxh4 b6 15. Nf4 Bxf4 16. Bxf4 Ra8 17. O-O-O Na6 18. e5 Nb4 19. exf6 Nxc2 20. fxe7 Nb4 21. a3 d6 22. Rxh5 Bxf5 23. Rxf5 Na2 24. Nxa2+ Kxe7 25. Re1 Kd8+ 26. Bxd6 Kd7 27. Re6 Kc8 28. Rf7 b5 29. Bxc5 Rd8 30. d6 Kb8 31. Nc3 Ra6 32. Nd5 Rc6 33. b4 axb4 34. axb4 Rg8 35. Kb2 Rd8 36. Kc3 Rg8 37. Kd4 Rg4 38. Ke5+ Rg5 39. Kf6+ Rg8 40. d7 Rxe6 41. Kxe6+ Rg6 42. Rf6+ Rxf6 43. Kxf6+ Kb7 44. d8=Q Kc6 45. Qb6 Kd7+ 46. Qxb5 Kc8+ 47. Qd3 Kb7 48. f4 Kc6 49. Ke6 Kb7 50. g4 Kc8 51. g5 Kd8 52. g6 Kc8 53. f5 Kb7 54. f6 Kc8 55. f7 Kb7 56. g7 Kc8 57. g8=N Kb7 58. f8=N Ka8 59. Qc4 Kb7 60. b5 Ka8 61. b6 Kb7 62. Qb4 Ka8 63. Bf2 Kb7 64. Bh4 Ka8 65. b7 Kb8+ 66. Bg3 Ka7+ 67. b8=N Ka8 68. Qb1 Ka7 69. Ngf6 Ka8 70. Nf6d7 Ka7 71. Ng6 Ka8 72. Nge5 Ka7 73. Nf7 Ka8 74. Nd6 Ka7 75. Nc5 Ka8 76. Ke7 Ka7 77. Nc6 Ka8+ 78. Nc7 *
Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 5)
search thread:   
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific opening only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC