King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c5
The King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit 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 6. Be3 c5. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 378 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 7. d5 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 49; best line 7. Nge2 Qa5 8. Nc1 cxd4 9. Nb3 Qb6)
- ECO
- E81
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/pp2ppbp/3p1np1/2p5/2PPP3/2N1BP2/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 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5 | |
| 1500-1999 | 102 | |
| 2000+ | 271 | |
| All | 378 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. d5 | 142 (38%) | |
| 7. Nge2 | 121 (32%) | |
| 7. dxc5 | 96 (25%) | |
| 7. Qd2 | 12 (3%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 6 (2%) | |
| 7. e5 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,361 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 22%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- Houdini 6.03 (3854) – AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-08
- AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) – Houdini 6.03 (3854) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-04
- Komodo 2522.05 (3794) – Vajolet2 2.9.0-TCEC-S17 (3592) 1-0 · 5th TCEC Cup 2020 · 2020-04-25
- Vajolet2 2.9.0-TCEC-S17 (3592) – Komodo 2522.05 (3794) 1/2-1/2 · 5th TCEC Cup 2020 · 2020-04-25
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Winners 2023 · 2023-07-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- JAGMM (2650) – feetquestionwhither (2649) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- GM AtalikS (2650) – Bebas_BKD (2503) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- JAGMM (2642) – yuhai321 (2491) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 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, Sämisch Gambit Accepted E81 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c5 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Bxc5
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.