Indian Defense: Knights Variation

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3

The Indian Defense: Knights Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A46, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3. It is a line of the Indian Defense. Black is to move. 15 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 107,382 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2… g6 (32% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 2… d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5)

ECO: A46
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/pppppppp/5n2/8/3P4/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 2 2
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	19,217	49%47%
1500-1999	49,707	49%46%
2000+	38,458	48%44%
All	107,382	49%46%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… g6 East Indian Defense	34,240 (32%)	48%46%
2… e6	26,368 (25%)	49%45%
2… d5	24,953 (23%)	49%45%
2… d6 Wade-Tartakower Defense	8,027 (7%)	49%46%
2… c5 Spielmann-Indian	7,667 (7%)	47%47%
2… b6 Pseudo Queen's Indian Defense (2. Nf3 b6)	2,192 (2%)	49%45%
2… Nc6	1,529 (1%)	51%44%
2… c6 Czech-Indian	1,287 (1%)	51%43%

Master games

53,657 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 27%, Black 35%). The strongest:

Stockfish 202003092246 (3936) – AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-31
AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) – Stockfish 202003092246 (3936) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-27
AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) – Komodo 2503.05 (3912) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-31
Komodo 2503.05 (3912) – AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-28
Komodo 2503.05 (3912) – Stockfish 202003092246 (3936) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-22

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

GM Fabsid (2818) – KnightCheckShadow (2997) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Americanchampion (2839) – GM Dr_Tiger (2942) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
winx_m (2940) – NM Andrey11976 (2810) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6) 1. d4 Nf6

Continuations

Döry Defense A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 Ne4
East Indian Defense A48 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6
Indian Defense: Czech-Indian A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c6
Indian Defense: Knights Variation, Alburt-Miles Variation A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 a6
Indian Defense: Polish Variation A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b5
Indian Defense: Spielmann-Indian A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5
Indian Defense: Wade-Tartakower Defense A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6
Pseudo Queen's Indian Defense (2. Nf3 b6) A47 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6
Indian Defense: London System A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4
Torre Attack: Classical Defense A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5
Yusupov-Rubinstein System A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3
Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense A46 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5
London System: Poisoned Pawn Variation D02 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. Nc3
Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation (5… Nbd7 6. e3) D30 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Bg5 c6 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 6. e3
Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (8… O-O 9. Nbd2) E14 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. e3 b6 5. b3 Bb7 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O Bd6 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Nbd2

More 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.