English Opening

In chess, the English Opening is the opening where White begins:

1. c4

A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, anywhere from one of the two most successful to the fourth most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins the fight for the centre by staking a claim to the d5 square from the wing, in hypermodern style. Although many lines of the English have a distinct character, the opening is often used as a transpositional device in much the same way as 1.Nf3 - to avoid such highly-regarded responses to 1.d4 as the Nimzo-Indian and Grünfeld defences, and is considered reliable and flexible.

The English derives its name from the English (unofficial) world champion, Howard Staunton, who played it during his 1843 match with Saint-Amant and London 1851, the first international tournament. It did not inspire Staunton's contemporaries, and only caught on in the twentieth century. It is now recognised as a solid opening that may be used to reach both classical and hypermodern positions. Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov, and Garry Kasparov all employed it during their world championship matches. Bobby Fischer created a stir when he switched to it from his hitherto almost universal 1.e4 late in his career, employing it against Lev Polugaevsky and Oscar Panno at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970 and in his 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky.