Manual:$wgMaxRedirects

Details
Maximum numbers of redirects to follow when resolving redirects:
 * 1 means only the first redirect is resolved (default behavior).
 * 0 or less means no redirects are resolved.

This setting affects what the user sees when she is redirected to a redirect. Suppose we have ArticleA which redirects to ArticleB, and ArticleB redirects to ArticleC, which in turn redirects to ArticleD (ad infinitum). When a user clicks on a link to ArticleA, she will be redirected to ArticleB. Here she will see:
 * The content of ArticleB (something like #REDIRECT [[ArticleB ]] ), if $wgMaxRedirects is 0,
 * An arrow followed by a link to ArticleC, if $wgMaxRedirects is 1 (default)
 * An arrow followed by a link to ArticleC, followed by another arrow, followed by a link to ArticleD, if $wgMaxRedirects is 2
 * An arrow followed by a link to ArticleC, followed by another arrow, followed by a link to ArticleD, followed by another arrow, followed by a link to ArticleE, if $wgMaxRedirects is 3
 * etc..