Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (8… c6 9. Rd1)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 c6 9. Rd1

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 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 c6 9. Rd1. It is a line of the Bogo-Indian Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.13 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 9… b6 10. Bf4 Bb7 11. Ne5 Nh5 12. Bd2)

ECO: E11
Moves: 17 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p4/2PP4/5NP1/PPQBPPBP/RN1R2K1 b - - 1 9
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 c6 9. Rd1

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Master games

2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 0%, draw 50%, Black 50%). The strongest:

GM Wenjun Ju (2560) – GM So, W. (2772) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Prelim · 2021-08-01
Razvan-Alexandru Panait (2037) – FM Andrei Negrean (2308) 0-1 · ch-ROU 2026 · 2026-02-19

Search all games of the Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation and its sub-variations

Comes from

Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (8. Qc2 c6) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 c6

Continuations

Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (9. Rd1 h6) E11 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 c6 9. Rd1 h6

More Bogo-Indian Defense lines (all)

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.