Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (6… O-O 7. O-O)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O
The Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E11, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O. It is a line of the Bogo-Indian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11 times by this move order. White won 9%, 18% were drawn and Black won 73%. The most popular continuation is 7… dxc4 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.13 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7… Nbd7 8. Qc2 c6 9. Bf4 b6 10. Rd1)
- ECO
- E11
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/5NP1/PP1BPPBP/RN1Q1RK1 b - - 3 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… dxc4 | 5 (45%) | |
| 7… c6 | 4 (36%) | |
| 7… Nbd7 | 2 (18%) |
Master games
480 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 39%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- GM So, W. (2812) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2781) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-25
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2784) – GM So, W. (2799) 1-0 · FIDE Candidates 2018 · 2018-03-10
- GM Liren Ding (2805) – GM Anish Giri (2763) 1-0 · PRO League KO Stage 2020 · 2020-09-26
- GM Liren Ding (2812) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2753) 1/2-1/2 · 12th World Teams 2019 · 2019-03-07
- GM Levon Aronian (2805) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2760) 1/2-1/2 · 9th London Classic 2017 · 2017-12-04
Search all games of the Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- whopper211 (2722) – canc3111 (2766) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- whopper211 (2688) – GM Dragso (2748) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- C01B01 (2562) – umbrella5000 (2553) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (6. Nf3 O-O) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 O-O
More Bogo-Indian Defense lines (all)
- Bogo-Indian Defense E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Exchange Variation E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Grünfeld Variation E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Haiti Variation E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Monticelli Trap E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: New England Variation E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Nimzowitsch Variation E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (4. Bd2 Be7) E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (5… d5 6. Nf3) E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (7… c6 8. O-O) E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (8. Qc2 c6) E11
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (8… c6 9. b3) E11
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.