English Opening: Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5
The English Opening: Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian is a chess opening classified as ECO A19, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 53 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. e5 (51% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. e5 Ng8 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4)
- ECO
- A19
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp1p1ppp/4pn2/2p5/2P1P3/2N5/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 29 | |
| 2000+ | 20 | |
| All | 53 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. e5 | 27 (51%) | |
| 4. d3 | 10 (19%) | |
| 4. g3 | 7 (13%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 6 (11%) | |
| 4. d4 | 3 (6%) |
Master games
28 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 25%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Robert Kempinski (2568) – GM Niclas Huschenbeth (2605) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-POL Ekstraliga 2020 · 2020-08-30
- GM Nils Grandelius (2644) – IM Jonasz Baum (2469) 1/2-1/2 · 25th ch-EUR Indiv 2025 · 2025-03-17
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2628) – IM Elias Ruzhansky (2442) 1-0 · Portuguese Top League · 2026-07-18
- GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2636) – GM Prraneeth Vuppala (2433) 1-0 · 9th Semana Santa Alicante · 2025-04-20
- GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2594) – IM David Gorodetzky (2461) 1/2-1/2 · Tal Memorial Blitz 2019 · 2019-07-18
Search all games of the English Opening: Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ObserverObserved (2419) – Rocky066 (2370) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- AgentOfChaos22 (2369) – Redomeiran (2394) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Johnnyballgame (2320) – Deofa75 (2328) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (2… Nf6 3. e4) 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Flohr-Mikenas-Carls Variation, Nei Gambit A19 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 Ng8
More English Opening lines (all)
- English Opening A10
- English Opening: Achilles-Omega Gambit A10
- English Opening: Adorjan Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense, Hickmann Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Chabanon Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Ferenc Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Lithuanian Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Löhn Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Schulz Gambit A10
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.