King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2
The King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E61, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2. It is a line of the King's Indian Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 117 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 6… Nbd7 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 6… e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Nxe5 Qxd1+ 9. Bxd1)
- ECO
- E61
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1ppbp/3p1np1/8/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R b KQ - 1 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 29 | |
| 1500-1999 | 66 | |
| 2000+ | 22 | |
| All | 117 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Nbd7 | 36 (31%) | |
| 6… Nc6 | 20 (17%) | |
| 6… Bg4 | 16 (14%) | |
| 6… c5 | 15 (13%) | |
| 6… Re8 | 9 (8%) | |
| 6… c6 Semi-Classical Variation, Benoni Variation | 6 (5%) | |
| 6… e5 | 3 (3%) | |
| 6… a5 | 2 (2%) |
Master games
115 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 32%, draw 10%, Black 58%). The strongest:
- GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2674) – GM Jiner Zhu (2536) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Late · 2025-08-05
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2731) – FM Egor Bykov (2424) 1-0 · Titled Tue 2nd Apr Early · 2024-04-02
- GM Sipke Ernst (2535) – GM Jorden Van Foreest (2578) 1-0 · 43rd OKU 2016 · 2016-06-05
- IM Qi b Chen (2485) – GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (2506) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th May Early · 2022-05-24
- GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2655) – FM Semyon Puzyrevsky (2330) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thursday Nov 13th 2025 · 2025-11-13
Search all games of the King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- archifoot (2468) – classicoloco404 (2427) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- SS3W (2355) – Bebas_BKD (2500) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- SS3W (2334) – QuietPenguin (2350) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3
Continuations
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Benoni Variation E60 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2 c6
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Queenside Storm Line E61 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. b4
- King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Exchange Variation E61 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e3 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. dxe5 dxe5
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, Hollywood Variation E60
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Benjamin Defense E61
- King's Indian Defense: Smyslov Variation E61
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Carlsbad Variation E62
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Delayed Fianchetto E62
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Kavalek Defense E62
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Larsen Defense E62
- King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Lesser Simagin (Spassky) E62
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.