Indian Defense: London System
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4
The Indian Defense: London System is a chess opening classified as ECO A46, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4. It is a line of the Indian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5,718 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3… d5 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3… b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. Bd3 c5 6. O-O)
- ECO
- A46
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/3P1B2/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RN1QKB1R b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 737 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,765 | |
| 2000+ | 2,216 | |
| All | 5,718 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d5 | 2,624 (46%) | |
| 3… c5 | 1,300 (23%) | |
| 3… b6 | 814 (14%) | |
| 3… Be7 | 282 (5%) | |
| 3… d6 | 210 (4%) | |
| 3… Bb4+ | 119 (2%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 96 (2%) | |
| 3… Bd6 | 71 (1%) |
Master games
10,846 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 22%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) – Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-10
- Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) – Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-07
- GM Levon Aronian (2781) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1/2-1/2 · NIC Classic KO 2021 · 2021-04-29
- GM Levon Aronian (2781) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1-0 · NIC Classic KO 2021 · 2021-04-29
- GM So, W. (2812) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2781) 1-0 · 5th Norway Blitz 2017 · 2017-06-05
Search all games of the Indian Defense: London System and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GladiatorDefence (2800) – FM Guary1 (2848) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Americanchampion (2840) – Hercule_Poirot-20 (2766) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Americanchampion (2850) – Tempstream (2751) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Knights Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3
More Indian Defense lines (all)
- Indian Defense: Pseudo-Benko A43
- Indian Defense (1. d4 Nf6) A45
- Indian Defense: Accelerated London System A45
- Indian Defense: Gedult Attack A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit Accepted A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Maltese Falcon A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Oshima Defense A45
- Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Stummer Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Lazard Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Maddigan Gambit A45
- Indian Defense: Omega Gambit A45
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.