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English (A10)
1 c4

Number of games in database: 11692
Years covered: 1851 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 34.8%
   Black wins 33.8%
   Draws 31.4%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Normunds Miezis  51 games
Colin McNab  47 games
Jaime Sunye Neto  45 games
Edvins Kengis  71 games
Tony Miles  58 games
Nenad Sulava  58 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
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 page 1 of 468; games 1-25 of 11,692 
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. C De Vere vs de Riviere 1-0261867ParisA10 English
20. Detroit vs New York Chess Club ½-½431867MatchA10 English
21. C 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. J Wisker vs C De Vere  ½-½3818688th BCA Congress, 2nd Challenge Cup, London 1868/69A10 English
 page 1 of 468; games 1-25 of 11,692 
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-15-06  Ludamad: I'm taking up the english opening as a secret weapon against the dogmatic 1. e4 people I will be facing in an upcoming tournament (normal 14 year olds don't tend to worry about the opening as much as me). I personally like the capablanca variation in the four knights, is fianchettoing clearly better?
Jan-15-06  Ludamad: btw I love the english too, i love forcing them to play english lines via not playing d4 :P
Jan-21-06  Chess Addict: Against King's Indian, should I transpose or stay in the English territory?
Jan-21-06  Ludamad: <at the risk of saying something pazter like> I think you should tend toward lines you having experience playing, if you are good at the lines, transpose. If you like staying in english systems stay in them, but don't think that d4 suddenly makes the kings indian stronger.
Jan-22-06  Chess Addict: Well, many GM play English and transpose to KID when they're confronted with that setup. So, I'm just wondering...
Jan-22-06  SniperOnG7: <Chess Addict> Don't blindly follow GMs. In the elite level, KID is not doing as well as it used to (ie when Kasparov was using it) so GMs naturally don't mind transposing to KI. However, in the slightly lower levels, KID is doing absolutely fine and these players will extremely appreciate your choice of 1.c4 2.d4.
Jan-28-06  Chess Addict: Great, thanks.
Mar-06-06  Kaissa: Could somebody look at the post I left under A13. I'm having problems finding this line in my Kosten English book. Have not checked my Soltis book because it's out on loan. Me and my friend both play the English the Kosten way.

I play 1...b6 against him to trip him up. Works pretty well and he's a low B class player and I'm a low C class.

Mar-07-06  Dudley: check your other post in A10, I think I have an answer
Mar-07-06  Dudley: I mean A 13
Jun-23-06  DeepBlade: Bob Holliman vs A Ivanov, 2001

Great Snake Variation

Aug-27-06  TechN9ne: can anyone give a few modern day masters who regularly employ the english opening?
Aug-27-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <TechN9ne: can anyone give a few modern day masters who regularly employ the english opening?> Topalov used to, but less so since a horrible loss to Ivanchuk at Linares 1999. As has been pointed out here, quite a few open with 1.c4 but transpose into regular Indian openings. There have also been quite a few symmetrical Englishes (1.c4 c5 or 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5)lately at GM level. Reversed Sicilian lines with 1...e5 are pretty much out of fashion.
Aug-27-06  Albertan: TechN9ne: can anyone give a few modern day masters who regularly employ the english opening?

Hi TechN9ne. According to my chessbase program these modern day masters regularly employ the English Opening:

Evgeny Bareev,Vassily Ivanchuk,Boris Gelfand,Aleksey Bakutin,Klaus Bischoff, Normunds Miezis,Colin Anderson McNab,Anatoly Karpov, Mihai Suba, and Istvan Csom.

Sep-21-06  Kwesi: I started experimenting today with Tony Miles' 1.c4 b6!? on FICS and ended up with a nice win as black against a slightly higher rated opponent. <Any comments on the game would be very much appreciated>

[Event "FICS"]
[Site "FICS"]
[Date "2006.09.21"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "dragonneau"]
[Black "kwesiquest"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteRating "1839"]
[BlackRating "1645"]

1. c4 b6
2. Nc3 e6
3. Nf3 Bb7
4. g3 Bxf3
5. exf3 Nf6
6. Bg2 c6
7. O-O Be7
8. d4 d5
9. cxd5 cxd5
10. Re1 O-O
11. Bg5 Nc6
12. Rc1 Ne8 <simplification provocation?>

13. Bxe7 Qxe7
14. Nxd5 Qd6
15. Rxc6 Qxd5
16. f4 Qxa2
17. Rcxe6 fxe6
18. Bxa8 Nc7
19. Bg2 Qxb2
20. Qc1 Qxc1
21. Rxc1 Nd5
22. Ra1 a5
23. Rb1 Rb8
24. Re1 Kf7
25. f5 Nc7
26. fxe6+ Nxe6
27. Bd5 Re8
28. Bc4 Kf6
29. Bb5 Rd8
30. Bd3 Rxd4
31. Bxh7 Ng5
32. Rb1 Nxh7
33. Rxb6+ Kf7
34. Rb7+ Kg6
35. Rb6+ Nf6
36. Ra6 Rd1+
37. Kg2 Ra1
38. h4 Kf5
39. Kh3 g5
40. hxg5 Kxg5
41. Ra7 Kf5
42. Rf7 Rh1+
43. Kg2 Rh7
44. Rf8 Ra7
45. g4+ Kg6
46. Kg3 a4
47. Rb8 a3
48. Rb1 a2
49. Ra1 Nd5
50. Kf3 Nb4
51. Ke4 Nc2
0-1

Sep-22-06  NateDawg: <Kwesi> Good game! According to analysis by Fritz 9 and Crafty 19.19, you played very well, with only the one main mistake (13...♕xe7?). However, you still had good counterplay, and played almost perfectly after that.

White might have tried 16. ♕a4, holding on to the extra pawn. Also, 17. ♖cxe6 was probably a mistake, trading Black's e-pawn for White's important b-pawn, which was needed to keep Black's queenside pawns at bay.

After trading queens, White still had a good chance for a draw. According to Fritz and Crafty, White's final major mistake was 29. ♗b5??; better was 29. ♖e3, after which the position is even (-0.05). I don't really understand why, but endgames have never been my strongsuit =). After White's apparent blunder you efficiently reached a won position.

Sep-23-06  Kwesi: Thanks <NateDawg>! After 13...Qxe7 I thought I could get the pawn back but I missed 16.Qa4 :(
Jan-08-07  Silverstrike: Hello, this is a game I played almost a year ago in last april, I was black against the English and was looking for any thoughts on this game. Thanks in advance

White: Manojraja Natarajan (the same as Jamal M J Raja perhaps?) Black: Julius Schwartz
Event: Edinburgh Major (U-1700) 2006
Date: 2/4/'06
Round: 4
Board: 3
White ELO: 1627
Black ELO: -

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 f5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.e4 Be7 7.Nge2 0-0 8.0-0 Nh5 9.Nd5 g5 10.exf5 Bxf5 11.Nec3 Ng7 12.Ne4 h6 13.Be3 Ne6 14.h4 Kg7 15.Qd2 Kg6 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.f3 Rh8 19.Nc3 Bh3 20.Ng5 Qg7 21.a3 Nd4 22.Qd1 Kf7 23.Kf2 Bxg2 24.Kxg2 Nf4+ 25.Nxf4 gxf4 26.Bf2 fxg3 27.Bxd4 Rh2+ 28.Kg1 g2 29.Kxh2 g1Q+ 30.Rxg1 Rh8#


click for larger view

An interesting feature is that both players have all of their pieces within their respective halves of the board!

I don't think that I played the opening particularly well, so I decided to go for broke with 8...Nh5 and 9...g5 etc. I think my opponent maybe could've exploited this better than he tried to. After that I attacked him and eventually won. All comments are welcome. I will post this game in the Kibitzer's Cafe aswell.

After winning this game I won the next against a 1688 rated player to take joint first place with 4.5/5.

Apr-27-08  refutor: hello all! what is the "GM" line in the English Defense (1.c4 b6). i'm curious in this line for both sides.

Thanks!

Jul-08-08  Cactus: <refutor> In my own experience at least, it tends to transpose into a Nimzo or Queen's Indian depending on white's play (e.g. 1.c4 b6 2.d4 e6 3.Nc3 or Nf3)
Feb-20-09  Pianoplayer: I love the english!
Feb-20-09  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.
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...
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