English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Formation (4. Bg2 Bb7)
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Formation is a chess opening classified as ECO A15, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 20 times by this move order. White won 45%, 10% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (85% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5. O-O Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. d4 Ne4)
- ECO
- A15
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pbpp1ppp/1p2pn2/8/2P5/5NP1/PP1PPPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 20 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 17 (85%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 1 (5%) | |
| 5. g4 | 1 (5%) | |
| 5. d4 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
205 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 30%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- GM Hans Moke Niemann (2736) – GM Levon Aronian (2742) 1-0 · Niemann-Aronian 2025 · 2025-06-21
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2731) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2638) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Nov Early · 2023-11-07
- GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista (2699) – GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2665) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-ESP CECLUB Honor 2013 · 2013-09-10
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2686) – GM Vladislav Kovalev (2623) 1-0 · Chess.com RCC Wk21 Swiss · 2022-07-16
- GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2625) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2641) 1-0 · Meltwater Indian Qualfier · 2021-05-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Risingfreak (2622) – AlphaNero5 (2510) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- kvat61 (2403) – AleksWC (2396) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- LoiuseMichel (2376) – Walinder (2361) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
English Opening: Agincourt Defense (1… e6 2. Nf3) 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3
More English Opening lines (all)
- English Opening A10
- English Opening: Achilles-Omega Gambit A10
- English Opening: Adorjan Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense, Hickmann Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Chabanon Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Ferenc Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Lithuanian Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Löhn Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Schulz Gambit A10
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.