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

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4

The King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A07, reached after 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4. It is a line of the King's Indian Attack. 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 1,972 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bg2 (90% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3. Bg2 c6 4. d4 Nd7 5. O-O e6)

ECO: A07
Moves: 4 plies
FEN: rn1qkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/6b1/5NP1/PPPPPP1P/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 1 3
PGN: 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	758	52%44%
1500-1999	875	55%41%
2000+	339	53%40%
All	1,972	53%42%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3. Bg2	1,780 (90%)	53%42%
3. Ne5	79 (4%)	58%39%
3. d3	38 (2%)	53%45%
3. d4	25 (1%)	56%40%
3. h3	16 (1%)	69%31%
3. e3	8 (0%)	50%50%
3. Nh4	5 (0%)	80%20%
3. c3	5 (0%)	80%20%

Master games

2,372 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 31%, Black 30%). The strongest:

GM Richard Rapport (2747) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2882) 0-1 · Saint Louis Rapid 2019 · 2019-08-10
GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) – GM So, W. (2778) 1-0 · 6th Norway Blitz 2018 · 2018-05-27
GM Vladimir Kramnik (2810) – GM Levon Aronian (2809) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates · 2013-03-20
GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2750) 1/2-1/2 · Charity Cup Prelim · 2022-03-19
GM Anish Giri (2785) – GM So, W. (2815) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 3m+2spm 2017 · 2017-05-25

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
IM Romsta (2645) – slouuurps (2707) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Indian Attack (1… d5 2. g3) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3

Continuations

King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (3. Bg2 Nd7) A07 · 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 Nd7

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.