Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense, Kingside Move Order
1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. Nf3
The Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense, Kingside Move Order is a chess opening classified as ECO A43, reached after 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. Nf3. It is a line of the Benoni Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 191 times by this move order. White won 49%, 3% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 3… d6 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 3… b5 4. Bg5 b4 5. Bxf6 exf6 6. Qd3)
- ECO
- A43
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp1ppppp/5n2/2pP4/8/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 3. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 35 | |
| 1500-1999 | 102 | |
| 2000+ | 54 | |
| All | 191 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d6 | 70 (37%) | |
| 3… g6 | 52 (27%) | |
| 3… e6 | 25 (13%) | |
| 3… b5 | 23 (12%) | |
| 3… b6 | 7 (4%) | |
| 3… c4 | 3 (2%) | |
| 3… a6 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3… Qa5+ | 2 (1%) |
Master games
124 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 15%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Aleksey Dreev (2670) – GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2642) 0-1 · 5th Starodubtsev Mem 2019 · 2019-01-19
- GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2645) – GM Grigoriy Oparin (2652) 0-1 · Titled Arena Apr 3rd 2021 · 2021-04-03
- IM Sankalp Gupta (2504) – GM Ivan Saric (2669) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2021 · 2021-12-30
- GM Dennis Wagner (2581) – GM Ilja Zaragatski (2522) 0-1 · Hobbits Invitational 2021 · 2021-01-10
- IM Michael Mulyar (2389) – GM Ilia Smirin (2663) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Washington Int · 2013-08-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SelfMicroBiolog (2408) – tonyrendon (2573) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- AdAAleXX (2581) – enriquekiki (2392) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Evgenievichh (2391) – Grigoriy1997 (2318) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Benoni Defense: Benoni-Indian Defense 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6
More Benoni Defense lines (all)
- Benoni Defense: Franco-Sicilian Hybrid A40
- Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit Accepted A43
- Benoni Defense: Benoni Gambit, Schlenker Defense A43
- Benoni Defense: Benoni-Staunton Gambit A43
- Benoni Defense: Cormorant Gambit A43
- Benoni Defense: French Benoni A43
- Benoni Defense: Hawk Variation A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1. d4 c5) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (1… c5 2. d5) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni (2. d5 d6) A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Mujannah Formation A43
- Benoni Defense: Old Benoni, Schmid Variation A43
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.