Learn the Answering the English

A20-A29 · a repertoire for black · 6 chapters · 28 annotated lines

"Play the Sicilian — with an extra move for you"

1.c4 stumps more club players than any other first move — nobody prepares for it, so everybody improvises badly against it. This course ends that: answer 1...e5 and play the Reversed Sicilian, where YOU get the position every English player thinks belongs to them. The backbone is the Reversed Dragon: ...Nf6, ...Nc6, ...d5 and the powerful knight retreat ...Nb6, giving you the exact setup White gets in the Dragon Sicilian — a full tempo down for White compared to their dreams. You'll learn the main tabiya against the g3 systems, the clean equalizer against the central 4.d4, the answer to the early 2.g3, and the punishment for 2.Nf3?! (which allows the space-grabbing 2...e4!). Every line is engine-checked; every plan comes with the middlegame ideas that win club games.

What's inside

• Chapter 1: The Reversed Dragon — Your Main Weapon
  Lines: The Main Tabiya — ...Nb6, ...Be6 and ...a5!, The 2.g3 Move Order — Same Song
• Chapter 2: The Central Tries — 4.d4 and 2.Nf3
  Lines: The Four Knights 4.d4 — Pin and Equalize, 2.Nf3?! — Punish It with 2...e4!
• Chapter 3: The g3 Tabiya — White's Plans, Your Counters
  Lines: The 6.Nxe5? Trap — A Piece, Thank You, The Impatient 9.b4? — Take the Pawn, 9.Be3 and the Qc1 Plan — Answer with ...f5!, The 9.Nd2 Regroup — Hold Firm with ...f6, The Slow Build 10.Rb1 — Clamp It with ...a5!, The Full Storm 11.b5 — Meet It with ...Nd4!
• Chapter 4: The Central 4.d4 — Every Version
  Lines: 6.g3 — The Hybrid, and the c4 Pawn Falls, 5.Nd5!? — Met by the Cold ...Nb4!, 6.Nxc6 — The In-Between Trade First, The Premature 3.d4 — Queen Recapture, Rook Fury
• Chapter 5: 2.Nf3 — Deeper Punishment
  Lines: 3.Ng5?? — Just Take the Knight, 4.Nxc6 — Recapture Toward the Center, Win the Endgame, 4.e3 — The Solid Try, Met by Simple Development
• Chapter 6: Sidelines and Rare Setups
  Lines: 4.e3 with Bb5 — The Reversed Sicilian Squeeze, 4.e4 — The Old-Fashioned Grab, Calmly Outplayed, 4.a3 and Qc2 — And the Greek Gift That Isn't, 2.b3 — The Double Fianchetto, Blunted, 2.d3 — The Waiting Game, Walked Back to the Tabiya

Free sample: the main line, move by move

• 1. c4 — The English — the move club players never prepare for. You're about to be the exception.
• 1... e5 — The strongest statistical answer at every level: claim the center White just declined. From here you're playing a Sicilian with colors reversed — the structure White WISHES they had.
• 2. Nc3 — The main English development.
• 2... Nf6 — Develop toward the center and prepare the key strike: ...d5.
• 3. Nf3 — White develops and pokes at e5.
• 3... Nc6 — Defend e5 and develop — never let the e5 pawn become a worry.
• 4. g3 — The English fianchetto: White wants the same g2 bishop the Catalan player gets.
• 4... d5 — The equalizing strike, played the moment White's kingside slows down. After the trade you'll develop the reversed Dragon — where this exact position, colors flipped, is considered pleasant for the side you're playing.
• 5. cxd5 — White trades — declining leaves ...d4 harassing the c3 knight.
• 5... Nxd5 — Recapture with the knight, centralizing.
• 6. Bg2 — The fianchetto completes, eyeing your d5 knight.
• 6... Nb6 — The move that makes the whole system work: the knight steps out of the g2 bishop's stare BEFORE White gains a tempo on it. From b6 it covers c4 and d5, supports ...Be6, and waits for the queenside pawn storm. Memorize this retreat — it's the difference between equality and a lifelong pull.
• 7. O-O — White castles.
• 7... Be7 — Quiet development — the bishop belongs here, keeping f6 free for the pawn.
• 8. d3 — White builds the standard restrained center.
• 8... O-O — Castle. The opening battle is over and you've fully equalized — now the middlegame plans decide, and yours are simpler.
• 9. a3 — The thematic English plan: b4-b5 is coming to harass your pieces and grab queenside space.
• 9... Be6 — Develop with a purpose: the bishop covers c4, connects to the b6 knight, and asks White's b4 plan a question — what exactly will b5 attack?
• 10. b4 — The storm begins.
• 10... a5 — Stop it in its tracks. The pawn hits b4 while it is still a pawn move away from doing damage, and White has nothing good: bxa5 hands you the half-open a-file and a lonely a3 pawn to chew on (the engine already prefers Black there), and defending b4 costs the whole plan. In practice 90% of club Whites push 11.b5 anyway — and that is exactly what you want, because the knight then gets d4 forever. Club results tell the story: Black scores about 60% from here. Only after this clamp do the slower moves — ...f6, ...Qd7, ...Rad8 — become useful.

Learn the Answering the English — start your 7-day free trial →