King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O

The King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO E81, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. White is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,348 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 6. Be3 (81% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.33 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. Be3 c5 7. Nge2 Qa5 8. Nc1 Qb6)

ECO: E81
Moves: 10 plies
FEN: rnbq1rk1/ppp1ppbp/3p1np1/8/2PPP3/2N2P2/PP4PP/R1BQKBNR w KQ - 1 6
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	66	55%45%
1500-1999	1,031	51%44%
2000+	1,251	50%44%
All	2,348	51%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6. Be3	1,913 (81%)	51%44%
6. Bg5 Steiner Attack (5… O-O 6. Bg5)	203 (9%)	48%48%
6. Bd3	126 (5%)	52%45%
6. Nge2 Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation	82 (3%)	54%39%
6. h4	5 (0%)	80%20%
6. Bf4	4 (0%)	75%25%
6. g4	4 (0%)	25%75%
6. Be2	3 (0%)	33%67%

Master games

1,384 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 22%, Black 36%). The strongest:

AllieStein v0.7_dev-net_14.3 (3761) – Stockfish 202005232210 (3796) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-13
Stockfish 202005232210 (3796) – AllieStein v0.7_dev-net_14.3 (3761) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-09
Torch 20260128-7136070b (3716) – Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-16
Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) – Torch 20260128-7136070b (3716) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-14
ScorpioNN 3.0.8 (3706) – Defenchess 2.3_dev2 (3663) 1/2-1/2 · 5th TCEC Cup 2020 · 2020-04-25

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nut5105 (2685) – NeuroChess-Academie (2692) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
FM Superfm1 (2621) – TimeBombMan (2751) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
JAGMM (2650) – feetquestionwhither (2649) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s

Comes from

King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation (4… d6 5. f3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3

Continuations

King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation E81 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2
King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack (5… O-O 6. Bg5) E81 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Double Fianchetto E82 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 b6
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation E85 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit E81 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c5
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Yates Defense E83 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Byrne Defense E81 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c6 7. Bd3 a6

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.