English Opening

The English Opening, 1.c4, controls d5 from the side and keeps White's options open: a reversed Sicilian after 1...e5, a Hedgehog or Symmetrical English after 1...c5, or a transposition to the Queen's Gambit after ...d5 and d4. White usually fianchettoes with g3 and Bg2, so the long diagonal from g2 to a8 is the main highway of the opening, for both sides.

That diagonal is behind one of the most frequent mistakes in our data. After 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 g6 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2, Black plays the natural 6...b6?, but the knight on d5 is attacked by the c3 knight and the g2 bishop and defended only by the queen. 7.Nxd5 wins material, and the long diagonal opens towards the rook on a8.

The same knight on d5 causes trouble in the Anglo-Grünfeld with ...Bg4. After 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.Qb3, the queen hits b7 and d5, and 5...e6? runs into 6.Qa4+ Qd7 7.Qxg4, picking up the bishop with a check on the other side.

Black's other typical mistakes are sacrifices without support. After 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.a3 Bc5 6.Nb3, the check 6...Bxf2+? gives up a bishop for a pawn after 7.Kxf2. And in the Symmetrical English, after 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.O-O O-O 7.b3 e5 8.Bb2, the jump 8...Nd4? leaves the e5 pawn without a defender, and 9.Nxe5 wins it.

In the English the pieces are often on long diagonals and loose squares, so the key habit is simple: before every move, check what is defended once and attacked twice. The English Opening study covers the main systems; the puzzles below train the tactics.