How I Play Against the English Opening
I used to hate playing against the English Opening as Black, until I found an extremely simple system that lets you blitz out the entire opening without remembering lots of theory or giving up any significant advantage.
This guide is aimed at players of any level, looking for a solid setup against the English.
Ready to dismantle the English? Let’s take a look.
Trolling the English with Copycat Moves
The best part about this system is that you get to troll your opponent with copycat moves. Essentially, until White moves their g-knight or e-pawn, all you do is copy their moves (which will very often be the same few moves but in different orders).
Let’s look at an example game:
1. c4 c5 *
Setting the tone right away. Rather than aggressively countering the opening with 1…e5, we just copy White’s move, entering the Symmetrical variation.
Now, White will very often play the moves Nc3, d3, g3, Bg2 in some order. Whatever they play, you play the exact same thing, reaching this setup, for example via:
**1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 **
Case A: White plays e6 – play copycat setup
If a White player got all the way here, they will often now play 6. e3, in which case you keep copying. Nine out of ten times the game will go:
**6. e3 e6 7. Nge2 Nge7 8. O-O O-O **
Now, if they do something on the queenside you just play b6 and Bb7. If they play d4 you capture and go d5.
Case B: White plays Nf3 – go into Reverse Botvinnik
If white plays Nf3 and you didn’t play e6 yet, you’ll play Nc6 if you didn’t already, and then adopt the Reverse Botvinnik setup. Here, you play e5, Nge7, O-O and often Be6.
The only thing to watch out for is when White plays a3 – your response the immediate a5.
Example game: **1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. g6 e5 5. Bg2 g6 6. d3 Bg7 7. O-O Nge7 8. a3 a5 9. Rb1 O-O **
Case C: White plays e4 without committing to Nf3
This is a rare case where White plays e4 but hasn’t yet committed to Nf3, but you’ve run out of moves to make.
Example: 1. **c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. d3 d6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. e4 **
Here, you could still adopt the Reverse Botvinnik setup, but White can then play Nge2 instead of Nf3 for a slightly better position.
Therefore, I play the setup from case A here, with e6 and Nge7.
Common Themes
In both the e6 setup and the e5 setup, you’re playing around a few basic ideas:
1. Plant your knight on d4
In the Reverse Botvinnik you allow White to do so as well, but after exchanging pieces in the center you’ve fixed a favourable pawn structure in the center.
The point here is that no matter what order the exchanges happen, your pieces will be better set up to attack the weak pawn and to support breaks on f5, e5, c4, etc. while White’s pieces will have minimal influence.
2. Play reactive on the queenside until pawn structure is fixed
White will almost always try to get play on the queenside with moves like a3 and Rb1. If you respond with a6 like the engine recommends, White will have good play on the queenside.
However, you can shut all these ideas down with the simple a5, optionally followed by b6 and Rb8. Yes, you concede the b5 square to the White knight but this has no discernible effect on your plans.
Later, if knights are exchanged in the center and the pawn structure gets fixed, it might be your turn to push on the queenside.
3. Break on the kingside with f5 (or possibly a pawn storm)
When there’s nothing better to do, you can usually get something going with a break on the kingside. Your setup makes you ideally placed to play f5, while moves like h6 and g5 can also be considered.
Summary
In summary, to counter the English opening, stick to these simple two plans:
- If White plays Nf3, play the Reverse Botvinnik setup with e5
- If White e3, play the copycat setup with e6
You can play reactively, just putting your pieces in the same location every game, but being prepared to answer a queenside initiative with a5.
When you’re done with your setup, you can maneuver around without danger, putting a knight on d4, preparing a queenside push, aligning the queen and the bishop, preparing a f4 break.
Most games, the tension won’t be kept for long but your opponent will instead try to exchange your d4-knight, which 9 out 10 games gives you an advantageous pawn structure.
**Now, perhaps you’re eager to try this system out, but there’s a final problem: most people don’t play the English Opening.
Fortunately, there’s a solution for that. Noctie is a humanlike chess AI that you can spar positions and openings against. You can get started by playing a game against the computer or taking a look at how the opening practice feature works.