King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation (7… O-O 8. Re1)
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
The King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A08, reached after 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. It is a line of the King's Indian Attack. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 92 times by this move order. White won 49%, 10% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 8… b5 (34% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 8… b5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Nf1 a5 11. h4)
- ECO
- A08
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/2n1pn2/2pp4/4P3/3P1NP1/PPPN1PBP/R1BQR1K1 b - - 6 8- PGN
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
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 11 | |
| 2000+ | 80 | |
| All | 92 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… b5 | 31 (34%) | |
| 8… b6 | 13 (14%) | |
| 8… h6 | 9 (10%) | |
| 8… Re8 | 9 (10%) | |
| 8… Qc7 | 7 (8%) | |
| 8… Rb8 | 6 (7%) | |
| 8… dxe4 | 6 (7%) | |
| 8… d4 | 4 (4%) |
Master games
288 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 16%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2707) – GM So, W. (2810) 0-1 · 30th Leon GM 2017 · 2017-07-07
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2783) – GM Georg Meier (2630) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2017-05-24
- GM Bassem Amin (2695) – GM Georg Meier (2628) 1/2-1/2 · European Online CC Final · 2021-03-30
- GM Viorel Iordachescu (2597) – GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2674) 1/2-1/2 · 12th Kings Rapid 2018 · 2018-11-20
- GM V Pranav (2588) – GM Daniel Fridman (2586) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Jul Early · 2023-07-18
Search all games of the King's Indian Attack: Sicilian Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- jdjdejdejy (2475) – SonofAtlantis (2641) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- GrandLapin (2459) – Lil-Bo_peep (2559) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- Udemzo (2479) – ecolefrancaise (2470) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: King's Indian Attack 1. e4 e6 2. d3
More King's Indian Attack lines (all)
- King's Indian Attack (2. g3 d5) A05
- King's Indian Attack: Smyslov Variation A05
- King's Indian Attack: Spassky Variation A05
- King's Indian Attack: Symmetrical Defense A05
- King's Indian Attack: Wahls Defense A05
- King's Indian Attack (1… d5 2. g3) A07
- King's Indian Attack: Double Fianchetto A07
- King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (2. g3 Bg4) A07
- King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (3. Bg2 Nd7) A07
- King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (4. O-O Nd7) A07
- King's Indian Attack: Keres Variation (8. Nc3 Bd6) A07
- King's Indian Attack: Omega-Delta Gambit A07
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.