King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (3. Bg2 Nd7)

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7

The King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A07, reached after 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7. It is a line of the King's Indian Attack. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 132 times by this move order. White won 52%, 8% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 4. O-O (39% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Bxf3 Ngf6 6. O-O c6)

ECO: A07
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: r2qkbnr/pppnpppp/8/3p4/6b1/5NP1/PPPPPPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 3 4
PGN: 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	3	67%33%
1500-1999	16	50%50%
2000+	113	52%39%
All	132	52%40%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. O-O	51 (39%)	49%45%
4. d4	45 (34%)	58%33%
4. h3	14 (11%)	50%43%
4. d3	13 (10%)	46%46%
4. c4	8 (6%)	50%12%38%
4. e3	1 (1%)	100%

Master games

2,163 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 29%, Black 30%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-25
GM Hao Wang (2763) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 0-1 · Online Nations Cup Prelim · 2020-05-07
GM Sergey Karjakin (2767) – GM Levon Aronian (2813) 1/2-1/2 · Norway Supreme Masters Blitz 2013 · 2013-05-07
GM Hao Wang (2743) – GM Levon Aronian (2813) 1/2-1/2 · Supreme Masters 2013 · 2013-05-15

Search all games of the King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Mysterious_Spy (2789) – GM cutemouse83 (2910) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
boatrap (2704) – GM Sailor1951 (2667) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Benoni_geschlossen (2593) – Cerrh34 (2707) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (2. g3 Bg4) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4

More King's Indian Attack 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.