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
The King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E85, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 486 times by this move order. White won 51%, 6% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 7. d5 (65% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.57 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 7. d5 c6 8. Nge2 cxd5 9. cxd5 Na6)
- ECO
- E85
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp2pbp/3p1np1/4p3/2PPP3/2N1BP2/PP4PP/R2QKBNR w KQ - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 11 | |
| 1500-1999 | 221 | |
| 2000+ | 254 | |
| All | 486 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. d5 Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation (6… e5 7. d5) | 314 (65%) | |
| 7. Nge2 | 118 (24%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 23 (5%) | |
| 7. dxe5 | 21 (4%) | |
| 7. Qd2 | 9 (2%) | |
| 7. h3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
278 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 15%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Erigaisi Arjun (2725) – GM Zdenko Kozul (2549) 1-0 · 32nd TCh-SLO 2022 · 2022-09-10
- GM Alexander Moiseenko (2622) – GM Zdenko Kozul (2593) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2019-20 · 2021-10-17
- GM Stanislav Novikov (2513) – GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2687) 0-1 · European Rapid 2016 · 2016-12-16
- GM Sasa Martinovic (2540) – GM Zdenko Kozul (2594) 0-1 · Zagreb Hulak Mem Open 2016 · 2016-06-16
- GM S.P. Sethuraman (2637) – IM Pa Iniyan (2487) 0-1 · 21st Dubai Open 2019 · 2019-04-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM petrik05 (2699) – QVC64 (2473) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Abdallah1990 (2483) – NeuroChess-Academie (2689) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- zsk-64 (2511) – unglaublichesache (2505) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O
Continuations
- King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation (6… e5 7. d5) E87 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. d5
- King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation (7. Nge2 c6) E86 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 c6
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.