Agincourt Defense

1...e6, the Agincourt Defense (Agincourt Defense in British spelling), is a reply to the English Opening. Its name refers to the battle between the English and the French, since Black meets 1. c4 with the move that defines the French Defense. The pawn on e6 prepares ...d5, supported in the same way as in the French, while leaving the king's knight uncommitted. Black usually aims for familiar 1. d4 structures, and the sequence 1...e6 and 2...d5 is a precise move order for reaching the Queen's Gambit Declined, which arises once White plays d4. White can decline that transposition, for example with 2. Nf3 d5 3. b3, entering a Réti setup.

2. Nc3 is the most common reply. After 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 the game enters the Mikenas-Carls Variation, the main independent and more combative branch, in which White claims the center at once instead of allowing a Queen's Gambit. 2. e4 is also frequent and leads to the Steiner Variation of the French Defense, while 2. Nf3, 2. g3 and 2. d4 keep the game in queen's pawn territory. When Black adds ...Nf6 without ...d5, play often transposes into the Anglo-Indian Defense.

The kingside fianchetto produces the Neo-Catalan, 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2, which resembles the Catalan Opening. Black can take the pawn with 4...dxc4, the Neo-Catalan Accepted, after which 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 regains it. The quieter 4...Be7 5. O-O is the Neo-Catalan Declined. From there the Keres Defense, 5...c5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Nc3 Nc6, opens the center. Other named options on the fourth move are the Bogoljubow Defense, 4...Bd6, and the Tarrasch Defense, 4...c5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O Be7, in which Black builds a broad center against White's double fianchetto. Black can also deviate a move earlier, after 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3, with 3...c6, the Kurajica Defense, or 3...c5, the Catalan Defense.

White does not need to fianchetto on the kingside. The Wimpy System, 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. b3 d5 4. Bb2 c5 5. e3, places the bishop on the long diagonal and holds back the central pawns, keeping a flexible and modest structure. Across all these branches the play tends to be strategic, decided by pressure on the long diagonal and the c- and d-files rather than by early tactics.

The Agincourt Defense is one of the more frequently reached named positions in online databases. White scores slightly better than Black, and the engine regards the position as roughly balanced, preferring 2. Nc3, 2. g3 or 2. d4.