English Opening:Mikenas-Carls Variation

Named after Vladas Mikėnas and Carl Carls: White plays an early e4 against Black’s ...e6 and ...Nf6.

It is reached after 5 moves: 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4. It is a line of the English Opening.

Black is to move and has 28 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 893,515 different games. Those games reach 297,108 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 4 further lines after this position, such as Mikenas-Carls, Sicilian (3... c5).

The same moves can be played in 6 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. e4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3, which starts as the King's Pawn Game.