French Defense: King's Indian Attack
1. e4 e6 2. d3
The French Defense: King's Indian Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21,141 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (65% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 2… d5 3. Qe2 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 5. exd5)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/4P3/3P4/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7,006 | |
| 1500-1999 | 9,747 | |
| 2000+ | 4,388 | |
| All | 21,141 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… d5 | 13,783 (65%) | |
| 2… c5 | 1,604 (8%) | |
| 2… c6 | 1,049 (5%) | |
| 2… b6 | 958 (5%) | |
| 2… d6 | 918 (4%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 380 (2%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 351 (2%) | |
| 2… g6 | 303 (1%) |
Master games
11,619 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 18%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- Stoofvlees II a14 (3730) – Fire 8_beta (3729) 1-0 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-06
- Fire 8_beta (3729) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3730) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-03
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2773) 1-0 · 5th Final Masters · 2012-10-08
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) 0-1 · Titled Tue 8th Apr Late · 2025-04-08
- GM Yangyi Yu (2752) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2818) 0-1 · Saint Louis Blitz 2019 · 2019-08-14
Search all games of the French Defense: King's Indian Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM Kiborg95 (2774) – Americanchampion (2838) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- IM Wildindian (2732) – GM sillyMASTER (2841) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- MeeTion01 (2834) – MothToTheFlame (2639) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense (1. e4 e6) 1. e4 e6
Continuations
- French Defense: King's Indian Attack, Franco-Hiva Gambit C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. d3 f5
- French Defense: Reversed Philidor Formation C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. Be2
- King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation (7… O-O 8. Re1) A08 · 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Re1
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted C00
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.