King's Indian Attack: Spassky Variation
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5
The King's Indian Attack: Spassky Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A05, reached after 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5. 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 265 times by this move order. White won 44%, 7% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bg2 (94% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. d3 c5)
- ECO
- A05
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/p1pppppp/5n2/1p6/8/5NP1/PPPPPP1P/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 24 | |
| 2000+ | 237 | |
| All | 265 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Bg2 | 250 (94%) | |
| 3. Na3 | 4 (2%) | |
| 3. b3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. d3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. c3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. a4 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. c4 | 2 (1%) | |
| 3. d4 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
3,763 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 25%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2827) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 1/2-1/2 · PRO League Group Stage · 2017-02-11
- GM Liren Ding (2791) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 1/2-1/2 · Legends of Chess Prelim · 2020-07-26
- GM Liren Ding (2813) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 1/2-1/2 · 81st Tata Steel GpA · 2019-01-12
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2765) 1-0 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2015 · 2015-04-21
- GM Vladimir Kramnik (2812) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2804) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2016 · 2016-06-12
Search all games of the King's Indian Attack: Spassky Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM lanchester1 (2799) – GM Niksss2023 (2818) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- IM unknown-maestro_2450 (2656) – TryhardTrainingTiger (2878) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- FM umagon20 (2726) – IM liczner (2762) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 Nf6) 1. Nf3 Nf6
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: 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
- King's Indian Attack: Pachman System 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.