The English chess opening is a very popular strategy by white. Bobby Fischer used this tactic to put many opponents under pressure, because they had to move their pieces in a way they weren´t accustomed to. According to Wikipedia which is one of the biggest online lexicons, the Russian players used the English opening as well. Here is an example on how this works out in a real match. It starts with moving pawn to C4 then the book line for black which is E5. After that white knight moves to C3 then the black bishop to B4. Now white moves D5 to knight and is already in an outpost. Than black bishop retreats to E7, white moves to D4, black goes to D6, and white goes to E4.
If you have a closer look to the current standpoint and observe how the play developed you will notice that black has in general only developed the bishop. It has two central pawns with the D6 pawn supporting the E5 pawn. On the other hand this chess strategy allowed white to have 4 pawns in the center of the board and a knight which is placed at D5.
Furthermore, now black can develop the knight to F6 and attack the white pawn on E4. Now, the white knight takes the bishop, and the queen takes knight. Now white has to support the E4 pawn by moving the next pawn to F3. These are the basic moves for the English chess opening which can also go through differently of course. Again, if you look closer to the standpoint of both sites, you will notice that white built and pawn island in the center of the board. The white bishop has also access to one entire diagonal. Besides, the queen can come out to D3, and also to the left diagonal to A4, where the remaining white bishop can only come up to the left diagonal to D3. Both rooks are still placed on A1 and H1, and have therefore no chances to develop yet.
Let´s also analyze black´s position carefully to see how the chess pieces developed here. Also the rooks are placed in both corners, however the rook at H8 can develop to F8 and G8. The knight at B8 can play a more significant role in the center play by developing to D7, C6, and also A6. The remaining bishop has a diagonal out by moving to H3 and has therefore also good possibilities to develop. The pawn structure is still rather tight with one pawn at E5 and one at D6. The queen can only come out one square and impact two diagonals after this move. The F6 knight has several options such as attacking or retreating to D7. The better developed black knight has far more options to attach white by moving to 3 different squares.
This review was focused on one variant on how a chess opening can proceed.
