King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Pterodactyl Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Qa5+
The King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Pterodactyl Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E64, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Qa5+. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4 times by this move order. White won 25%, 25% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nc3 (75% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qd3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc5)
- ECO
- E64
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/pp1pppbp/5np1/q1p5/2PP4/5NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c5 5. Bg2 Qa5+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nc3 | 3 (75%) | |
| 6. Bd2 | 1 (25%) |
Master games
83 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 23%, draw 41%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2726) – GM Andrei Volokitin (2704) 0-1 · 81st ch-UKR 2012 · 2012-07-31
- GM Anatoly Karpov (2619) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2707) 1-0 · Sberbank GM Rapid · 2013-06-06
- GM Vlad-Cristian Jianu (2565) – GM Peter Svidler (2752) 1/2-1/2 · 19th European Teams · 2013-11-14
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2757) – GM Mark L Hebden (2540) 1-0 · PokerStars IoM Masters 2014 · 2014-10-07
- GM Alexander Rustemov (2525) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2739) 0-1 · Titled Tue 22nd Aug Early · 2023-08-22
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SchhW (2539) – Fraysinator (2672) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- gammadrill (2551) – MDTischler07 (2517) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- very_slow (2513) – Gertrude_Weichsel (2544) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3
More King's Indian Defense lines (all)
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Immediate Fianchetto E60
- King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, King's Knight Variation E60
- King's Indian Defense: Santasiere Variation E60
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Benoni Variation E60
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Hollywood Variation E60
- King's Indian Defense E61
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Benjamin Defense E61
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation E61
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Exchange Variation E61
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Queenside Storm Line E61
- King's Indian Defense: Smyslov Variation E61
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Carlsbad Variation E62
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.