A22

English Opening: Carls-Bremen System

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Statistics from Lichess

3,452,075 games: White 51.3% / Draw 5.2% / Black 43.5%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Reversed Dragon	775,990776K
	608,589609K
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Smyslov System	587,478587K
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Keres Variation	541,063541K
	465,199465K
	163,855164K
	104,869105K
English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Fianchetto Line	84,69285K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.06 The position is about equal

Best play: 3... Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 Bxc3 6. bxc3 c6 7. Ne2 d5 8. exd5

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 54% under 1400, 52% at 2200 and up and 51% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	795K
1400–1799	2.1M
1800–2199	1.9M
2200 and up	310K
Masters, over the board	6,628

Master games

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: Carls-Bremen System (ECO A22, Flank Openings) is a variation of the English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 (3 moves).

In 3,452,075 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 51.3%, Black 43.5% and 5.2% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 3…d5, in 22% of those games.

It branches into 6 named variations; the most played are English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Reversed Dragon and English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Smyslov System. In all, 7 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the English Opening: Carls-Bremen System

3…Bb4 (English Opening: King's English Variation, Two Knights Variation, Smyslov System) scores best for Black: 48.4%, with Black winning 45.8% and White 49.1% of 587K games. The most played, 3…d5, scores 47.2% in 776K games, and 3…Bc5 scores lowest: 44.1%. Stockfish's first choice is also 3…Bb4.

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: Carls-Bremen System peaked in 2020 at 0.15% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.13% in 2025.

0.12%0.13%0.15%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.12%	43,072
2017	0.13%	74,014
2018	0.14%	108,956
2019	0.15%	186,312
2020	0.15%	439,269
2021	0.14%	531,916
2022	0.13%	479,052
2023	0.13%	490,875
2024	0.13%	459,946
2025	0.13%	445,102
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.13%	140,753

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 (6)

All 7 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “English Opening: Carls-Bremen System (A22)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/english-opening-carls-bremen-system