English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (2… Nf6 3. e4)
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4
The English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A18, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4. It is a line of the English Opening. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 590 times by this move order. White won 54%, 3% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3… d5 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 3… d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 d4 6. exf6)
- ECO
- A18
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/2P1P3/2N5/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 56 | |
| 1500-1999 | 348 | |
| 2000+ | 186 | |
| All | 590 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d5 | 186 (32%) | |
| 3… Bb4 | 103 (17%) | |
| 3… d6 | 78 (13%) | |
| 3… c6 | 54 (9%) | |
| 3… c5 Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian | 53 (9%) | |
| 3… Be7 | 34 (6%) | |
| 3… Nc6 Mikenas-Carls Variation (3. e4 Nc6) | 22 (4%) | |
| 3… e5 | 18 (3%) |
Master games
234 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 24%, Black 21%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2808) – GM So, W. (2812) 1-0 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-25
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2862) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2743) 1/2-1/2 · Opera Euro Rapid Prelim · 2021-02-07
- GM So, W. (2770) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) 1-0 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2016-06-19
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2796) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2744) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-08-06
- GM So, W. (2822) – GM Alexander Onischuk (2667) 1-0 · ch-USA TB 2017 · 2017-04-10
Search all games of the English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Roberz12 (2568) – chesslove11111 (2562) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- FM uhlmannfan (2527) – moisesanto (2534) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- howmuchisthefish2025 (2453) – Walion_Tualag (2420) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Continuations
- English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (3. e4 Nc6) A18 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Nc6
- English Opening: Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian A19 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5
- English Opening: Mikenas-Carls Variation (3… d5 4. e5) A18 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 d5 4. e5
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.