Nimzo-Indian Defense: Leningrad Variation, Benoni Defense
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 d6
The Nimzo-Indian Defense: Leningrad Variation, Benoni Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO E31, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 d6. It is a line of the Nimzo-Indian Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 15 times by this move order. White won 47%, 6% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 7. e3 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.09 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 7. e3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 Qe7 9. Nf3 b6)
- ECO
- E31
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp3pp1/3ppn1p/2pP4/1bP4B/2N5/PP2PPPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 9 | |
| All | 15 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. e3 | 5 (33%) | |
| 7. Nf3 | 4 (27%) | |
| 7. e4 | 4 (27%) | |
| 7. f3 | 1 (7%) | |
| 7. Rc1 | 1 (7%) |
Master games
75 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 21%, Black 43%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) – GM Vincent Keymer (2767) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2026 · 2026-08-06
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 0-1 · Saint Louis Blitz 2026 · 2026-08-06
- IM Martijn Dambacher (2493) – GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2698) 0-1 · 29th ECC Open 2013 · 2013-10-24
- GM Alexander Onischuk (2681) – GM Abhijit Kunte (2499) 1/2-1/2 · PRO League Group Stage · 2018-01-31
- IM Kirill Kozionov (2458) – GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2705) 1-0 · ch-RUS Blitz 2018 · 2018-10-07
Highest-rated Lichess games
- JoannaWo (2606) – Training_Games2next (2497) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- drglavas (2417) – FM OneAndAHalph (2482) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- CM realPioneer (2354) – BOUCHTACOV (2315) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Leningrad Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5
More Nimzo-Indian Defense lines (all)
- Nimzo-Indian Defense (3. Nc3 Bb4) E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Dilworth Gambit E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Kmoch Variation E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Mikenas Attack E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation (3… Bb4 4. g3) E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation (5… O-O 6. Bg2) E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation, English Hybrid E20
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation E21
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation, Euwe Variation E21
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation, Korchnoi Variation E21
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation, Shocron Gambit E21
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation E22
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.