A25

English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian

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Statistics from Lichess

3,463,354 games: White 50.5% / Draw 5.1% / Black 44.4%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	1,430,5881.4M
English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System	917,606918K
	396,471396K
	319,209319K
	288,203288K
	50,44250K
	30,89431K
	6,7106,710

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.23 The position is about equal

Best play: 3. g3 g6 4. d3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. e3 a5 7. Rb1 Be6

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

Rating changes little here: Black scores 46% under 1400, 48% at 2200 and up and 46% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	1.4M
1400–1799	2.2M
1800–2199	1.9M
2200 and up	483K
Masters, over the board	7,139

Master games

Svidler, P. – Carlsen, M. ½–½, 2014
Grischuk, A. – Carlsen, M. 0–1, 2016
Aronian, L. – Nakamura, H. 0–1, 2015
So, W. – Mamedyarov, S. ½–½, 2018
Nepomniachtchi, I. – Carlsen, M. ½–½, 2017

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: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (ECO A25, Flank Openings) is a variation of the English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Sicilian, reached after 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 (2 moves).

In 3,463,354 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 50.5%, Black 44.4% and 5.1% were drawn. White's most played move here is 3. g3, in 41% of those games.

It branches into 4 named variations; the most played are English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System and English Opening: King's English Variation, Taimanov Variation. In all, 10 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian

3. Nf3 (English Opening: King's English Variation, Three Knights System) scores best for White: 54.6%, with White winning 51.9% and Black 42.6% of 918K games. The most played, 3. g3, scores 53.6% in 1.4M games, and 3. e4 scores lowest: 50.2%. Stockfish's first choice is 3. g3.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White'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: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian has gained ground since 2016: 0.13% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.11%.

0.11%0.13%0.14%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.11%	39,024
2017	0.12%	63,824
2018	0.12%	97,763
2019	0.14%	168,535
2020	0.14%	415,838
2021	0.14%	532,422
2022	0.13%	494,790
2023	0.13%	500,542
2024	0.13%	479,146
2025	0.13%	466,860
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.14%	151,247

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)

All 10 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “English Opening: King's English Variation, Reversed Closed Sicilian (A25)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/english-opening-kings-english-variation-reversed-closed-sicilian