Tree path 3 levels Queen's Pawn Game › Horwitz Defense › English Defense
- Chess Codex
- Queen's Pawn Game A40
- Horwitz Defense A40
- English Defense A40 you are here
English Defense
Overview
English Defense is a variation within the Flank Openings family, indexed as ECO A40.
The Flank Openings group covers flank openings — systems that delay the central pawn break and instead develop pieces and pawns on the wings.
Play reaches this position via 1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6, after 4 plies of opening development.
It is a variation of Horwitz Defense, which itself descends from the root opening Queen's Pawn Game.
It branches into 2 notable variations — Perrin Variation, Poli Gambit.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- A40
- Group
- Flank Openings (A)
- Plies
- 4
- Parent
- Horwitz Defense
- Direct variations
- 2
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
2,141,430 games · White 49.7% / Draw 4.5% / Black 45.8%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nc3 | 1,325,748 | |
| Nf3 | 345,076 | |
| e4 | 231,698 | |
| a3 | 77,747 | |
| e3 | 76,217 | |
| g3 | 28,475 | |
| Bf4 | 19,996 | |
| d5 | 13,630 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:55:24
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