King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation, Stein Defense
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5
The King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation, Stein Defense 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 7. d5 a5. 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 180 times by this move order. White won 42%, 9% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 8. O-O (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 62; best line 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Na6 10. Nd2 h5)
- ECO
- E92
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/1pp2pbp/3p1np1/p2Pp3/2P1P3/2N2N2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R w KQ - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 10 | |
| 1500-1999 | 63 | |
| 2000+ | 107 | |
| All | 180 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. O-O | 63 (35%) | |
| 8. Bg5 | 49 (27%) | |
| 8. h3 | 25 (14%) | |
| 8. Be3 | 16 (9%) | |
| 8. a4 | 12 (7%) | |
| 8. a3 | 7 (4%) | |
| 8. b3 | 4 (2%) | |
| 8. h4 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
1,117 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 20%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2778) – GM Etienne Bacrot (2713) 1-0 · 45th Biel GM · 2012-07-27
- GM Boris Gelfand (2743) – GM Etienne Bacrot (2718) 0-1 · SportAccord Blitz 2014 · 2014-12-13
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2714) 0-1 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 25th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-25
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2728) – GM A.R. Saleh Salem (2682) 0-1 · Titled Tue 23rd Jun Final · 2020-06-23
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) – GM Sina Movahed (2595) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 16th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CogitoErgoVinco (2626) – DoubleHelix2 (2627) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Knuspermeister2 (2713) – Viva_La_Gloria (2484) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Knuspermeister2 (2708) – Viva_La_Gloria (2489) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation 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)
- 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.