Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed Mokele Mbembe
1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Ne5
The Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed Mokele Mbembe is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Ne5. It is a line of the Englund Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,112 times by this move order. White won 44%, 3% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 3… d6 (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.60 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 3… c6 4. f3 d6 5. Ng4 Bxg4 6. fxg4)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4N3/3Pp3/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Ne5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 654 | |
| 1500-1999 | 424 | |
| 2000+ | 34 | |
| All | 1,112 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d6 | 385 (35%) | |
| 3… d5 | 319 (29%) | |
| 3… f6 | 119 (11%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 64 (6%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 60 (5%) | |
| 3… Qe7 | 45 (4%) | |
| 3… Qf6 | 36 (3%) | |
| 3… Bd6 | 23 (2%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 0%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Andrew Tang (2506) – FM Aaron Jacobson (2301) 1-0 · 2nd Ivy League Challenge · 2019-11-10
- GM Gareev, T. (2606) – FM Anthony Atanasov (2144) 0-1 · Chess.com Bullet Open 1 · 2020-12-19
Search all games of the Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed Mokele Mbembe and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- maculaw (2271) – el_cholo_ultra (2342) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Couronian (2357) – quzz (2256) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- mickychess84 (2245) – MellowMoonshine (2192) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed Krebs 1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 e4
More Englund Gambit Declined lines (all)
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.