English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
12,838,838 games: White 49.6% / Draw 5.7% / Black 44.8%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 4,626,2904.6M | ||
| English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System | 3,451,9083.5M | |
| English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation | 1,340,1701.3M | |
| English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense | 918,929919K | |
| 880,029880K | ||
| 631,085631K | ||
| 584,197584K | ||
| 197,548198K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 3, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.10 The position is about equal
Best play: 2... e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: White scores 52% under 1400, 53% at 2200 and up and 58% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 979K | |
| 1400–1799 | 4.4M | |
| 1800–2199 | 8.1M | |
| 2200 and up | 1.9M | |
| Masters, over the board | 33K |
Master games
- Carlsen, M. – Ding Liren
- Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L.
- Carlsen, M. – Giri, A.
- Carlsen, M. – Ding Liren
- Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Overview
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation (ECO A16, Flank Openings) is a variation of the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 (2 moves).
In 12,838,838 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 49.6%, Black 44.8% and 5.7% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 2…g6, in 36% of those games.
It branches into 4 named variations; the most played are English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System and English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense. In all, 12 named lines continue from it.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
Write a description or report a mistake
How to play against the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation
2…d5 (English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense) scores best for Black: 48.5%, with Black winning 45.3% and White 48.4% of 919K games. The most played, 2…g6, scores 47.9% in 4.6M games, and 2…e5 scores lowest: 47.1%. Stockfish's first choice is 2…e5.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation peaked in 2019 at 0.59% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.48% in 2025.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.42% | 150,051 |
| 2017 | 0.5% | 274,515 |
| 2018 | 0.58% | 451,932 |
| 2019 | 0.59% | 736,713 |
| 2020 | 0.57% | 1,660,656 |
| 2021 | 0.49% | 1,925,007 |
| 2022 | 0.48% | 1,789,909 |
| 2023 | 0.48% | 1,793,734 |
| 2024 | 0.47% | 1,687,794 |
| 2025 | 0.48% | 1,648,969 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.47% | 520,447 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Variations (4)
Transpositions
All 12 named lines that continue from here
- A16 English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense 2 moves
- A15 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anti-Anti-Grünfeld 4 moves
- A17 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Hedgehog System 2 moves
- A34 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Fianchetto Variation 3 moves
- A16 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation 4 moves
- A16 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation 5 moves
- A16 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation 5 moves
- A17 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Nimzo-English 3 moves
- A34 English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Rubinstein Variation 5 moves
- A17 English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense 5 moves
- A16 Anglo-Grünfeld Variation 4 moves
- A16 English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense, Korchnoi Variation 6 moves
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation (A16)”. Lichess data as of 3 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/english-opening-anglo-indian-defense-queens-knight-variation