English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Formation (3. Nf3 b6)
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6
The English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Formation is a chess opening classified as ECO A17, reached after 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21 times by this move order. White won 29%, 4% were drawn and Black won 67%. The most popular continuation is 4. g3 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O O-O)
- ECO
- A17
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/p1pp1ppp/1p2pn2/8/2P5/2N2N2/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 14 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 21 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. g3 | 12 (57%) | |
| 4. e3 | 4 (19%) | |
| 4. e4 | 3 (14%) | |
| 4. d3 | 1 (5%) | |
| 4. d4 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
15 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 20%, draw 40%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2672) – GM Grigoriy Oparin (2575) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-RUS Men 2016 · 2016-05-05
- IM Alexey Reshetnikov (2492) – GM Grigoriy Oparin (2626) 1/2-1/2 · 70th Moscow Blitz · 2016-09-04
- GM Julen Luis Arizmendi Martinez (2465) – FM John Veny Akkarakaran (2308) 1/2-1/2 · 42nd Andorra Open 2026 · 2026-07-20
- FM Fyodor Myshakov (2292) – WGM Khanim Balajayeva (2376) 1-0 · Euro Online Blitz Quali · 2020-12-18
- FM Fyodor Myshakov (2292) – FM Gabriel Petesch (2330) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 2nd Nov · 2021-11-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- slouuuurps (2692) – Towser1 (2689) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- abobaraa77 (2435) – kraik (2305) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Strongens2 (2192) – americ (2106) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Variation A17 · 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e4 Bb7 5. Bd3
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.