King's Indian Defense: Kazakh Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Na6
The King's Indian Defense: Kazakh Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E91, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Na6. 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 155 times by this move order. White won 43%, 10% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (72% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.50 (Stockfish, depth 62; best line 7. Be3 e5 8. O-O Qe7 9. d5 Ng4)
- ECO
- E91
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/ppp1ppbp/n2p1np1/8/2PPP3/2N2N2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R w KQ - 4 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Na6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3 | |
| 1500-1999 | 38 | |
| 2000+ | 114 | |
| All | 155 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 112 (72%) | |
| 7. a3 | 16 (10%) | |
| 7. Be3 | 15 (10%) | |
| 7. Bg5 | 4 (3%) | |
| 7. Bf4 | 3 (2%) | |
| 7. Nd2 | 3 (2%) | |
| 7. h3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 7. e5 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
1,200 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 21%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2765) 1/2-1/2 · Airthings Masters KO 2020 · 2020-12-30
- GM Anish Giri (2760) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2775) 0-1 · TechM GCL 2025 · 2025-12-22
- GM David Navara (2697) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2784) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 10th Nov · 2020-11-10
- GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2744) – GM Liren Ding (2732) 0-1 · 77th Tata Steel GpA · 2015-01-23
- GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2717) – GM Baadur Jobava (2730) 0-1 · Rapid Match · 2012-07-28
Search all games of the King's Indian Defense: Kazakh Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- AnibalBarca7 (2697) – AlwaysLookingForMore (2703) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- GM petrovich_gm (2616) – AlwaysLookingForMore (2699) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- NightNightingale1 (2580) – FM umagon20 (2732) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation (5… O-O 6. Be2) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2
More King's Indian Defense lines (all)
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation E60
- 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
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.