White English Opening

In a nutshell, the English Opening for White revolves around building a central stronghold to
maximise space, cramp your opponent, and slowly but surely organise your forces until your
pieces crescendo into an unstoppable attacking force.

c4, Nf3 & Bg2 all work towards controlling the light squares, in particular the central squares
d5 & e4 and eying the long diagonal to a8

v ..Nf5 ..g6 King’s Indian

Line1 Line2 [Botvinnik]

v e4 Reversed Sicilian
Most principled response by Black, Looking to control the dark squares, especially d4, and,
after developing, may look to expand with f5 and build a kingside attack and/or to contest the
light squares with d5.
Line 1 ..Nf6 Reversed Dragon

Line 2 ..Nc6 ..f5 Grand Prix Attack

Black controls the centre squares d4, e4, f4 & g4, giving him plenty of space, and is set up
for a kingside attack with f4.White has an effective grip in the centre and long term play on
the queenside ie. Nd5 & d4.

Line 3 ..Nc6 ..g6

More restrained approach by Black.

Black stops any ideas of White playing d4 and looks for Ne7 or Nh6, where the Knight won’t
block in the Bishop on g7. May also think about f5 long term, once it can be supported.