English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (3. e4 Nc6)
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Nc6
The English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A18, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Nc6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 22 times by this move order. White won 73%, 0% were drawn and Black won 27%. The most popular continuation is 4. d4 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.53 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 4. d4 Bb4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qc2 d5)
- ECO
- A18
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n1pn2/8/2P1P3/2N5/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 8 | |
| 1500-1999 | 13 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 22 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. d4 | 8 (36%) | |
| 4. d3 | 6 (27%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 5 (23%) | |
| 4. g3 | 2 (9%) | |
| 4. f4 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
18 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 72%, draw 6%, Black 22%). The strongest:
- GM Guha Mitrabha (2471) – FM Dimitrios Ladopoulos (2335) 0-1 · Titled Tue 23rd Aug Late · 2022-08-23
- IM Shixu B Wang (2440) – CM Vihaan Jammalamadaka (2213) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-25
- IM Tsvetan Stoyanov (2445) – Matei Vasile (2090) 1-0 · Grand Prix Bucharest 2026 · 2026-05-09
- IM Aronyak Ghosh (2486) – Josep Monedero Gonzalez (2002) 1-0 · 22nd Sant Marti Open 2022 · 2022-07-13
- WFM Elena Verbova (2033) – FM Mark Smirnov (2359) 0-1 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Early · 2025-08-05
Search all games of the English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Vyacheslav_Kholodov (2277) – Erfan-2026 (2228) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
- enver81 (1954) – Rumka12 (2004) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- ahmadi1000 (1970) – souldriver (1912) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 900 + 10s
Comes from
English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (2… Nf6 3. e4) 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4
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.