King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation (6… e5 7. d5)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5
The King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E87, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 314 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 7… c6 (24% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.58 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 7… Nh5 8. Qd2 f5 9. O-O-O Na6 10. exf5)
- ECO
- E87
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp2pbp/3p1np1/3Pp3/2P1P3/2N1BP2/PP4PP/R2QKBNR b KQ - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 10 | |
| 1500-1999 | 149 | |
| 2000+ | 155 | |
| All | 314 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… c6 Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation (7. d5 c6) | 75 (24%) | |
| 7… a5 | 65 (21%) | |
| 7… Nbd7 | 56 (18%) | |
| 7… Nh5 | 46 (15%) | |
| 7… Ne8 | 21 (7%) | |
| 7… c5 | 19 (6%) | |
| 7… Nfd7 | 9 (3%) | |
| 7… b6 | 8 (3%) |
Master games
417 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 24%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-4167c1e-BT4-6147500-it332 (3648) – KomodoDragon 3.3 (3583) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-15
- KomodoDragon 3.3 (3583) – LCZero 0.31-dag-4167c1e-BT4-6147500-it332 (3648) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-12
- Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) – Seer 20241122 (3542) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-14
- Seer 20241122 (3542) – Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-12
- KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) – Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- zsk-64 (2511) – unglaublichesache (2505) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- IM Ogloblin (2491) – sebica98 (2479) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Howerts1 (2443) – Azamat-Ulkhanov (2516) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5
Continuations
- King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation (7. d5 c6) E88 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 c6
- King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bronstein Defense E87 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 8. Qd2 Qh4+ 9. g3 Nxg3 10. Qf2 Nxf1 11. Qxh4 Nxe3 12. Ke2
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.