King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation (6. Be2 e5)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5

The King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E92, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. White is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,115 times by this move order. White won 48%, 7% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (44% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.51 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 7. O-O exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 Nc6)

ECO: E92
Moves: 12 plies
FEN: rnbq1rk1/ppp2pbp/3p1np1/4p3/2PPP3/2N2N2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R w KQ - 0 7
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	37	49%51%
1500-1999	341	45%49%
2000+	737	50%43%
All	1,115	48%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7. O-O Orthodox Variation (6… e5 7. O-O)	494 (44%)	51%43%
7. d5 Petrosian Variation	311 (28%)	45%49%
7. Be3 Orthodox Variation, Gligoric-Taimanov System	152 (14%)	53%41%
7. dxe5 Exchange Variation	136 (12%)	42%49%
7. Bg5	10 (1%)	60%30%
7. h3	9 (1%)	33%56%
7. h4	2 (0%)	100%
7. Kf1	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

34 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 26%, draw 30%, Black 44%). The strongest:

GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (2568) – GM Alexei Fedorov (2589) 1/2-1/2 · Mikhail Tal Mem Rapid · 2017-03-05
IM Stefan Loeffler (2378) – IM Stefan Mazur (2446) 0-1 · TCh-AUT 2nd Ost 2016-17 · 2016-12-03
GM Korchnoi, V. (2499) – GM Uhlmann, W. (2322) 1-0 · Uhlmann vs Korchnoi Match 2014 · 2014-03-28
IM Marcel Peek (2291) – IM Evgeny Zanan (2497) 0-1 · 13th Teplice Open 2018 · 2018-06-23
IM Zeljko Bogut (2403) – IM Zoran Runic (2319) 1/2-1/2 · 18th Premier League BIH · 2019-06-16

Search all games of the King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Juan_Delasala (2758) – GM AtalikS (2649) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
GM gmluke (2674) – mitsutszkisszucs (2724) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Minarque (2719) – SnoopyDoggy (2661) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 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

Continuations

King's Indian Defense: Exchange Variation E92 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. dxe5
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation (6… e5 7. O-O) E94 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Gligoric-Taimanov System E92 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3
King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation E92 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5

More King's Indian Defense 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.