Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation (5… Ne4 6. Qc2)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Ne4 6. Qc2
The Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E43, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Ne4 6. Qc2. It is a line of the Nimzo-Indian Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 6… Bb7 (80% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 6… Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Bb7 8. Bd3 f5 9. O-O)
- ECO
- E43
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/p1pp1ppp/1p2p3/8/1bPPn3/2N1PN2/PPQ2PPP/R1B1KB1R b KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Ne4 6. Qc2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Bb7 | 4 (80%) | |
| 6… Bxc3+ | 1 (20%) |
Master games
53 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 32%, draw 36%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2802) – GM So, W. (2788) 1-0 · Vugar Gashimov Mem 2015 · 2015-04-24
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2712) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2783) 1/2-1/2 · Alekhine Mem · 2013-04-22
- GM Yue Wang (2699) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2710) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CHN 2017 · 2017-08-18
- GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2689) – GM Zoltan Almasi (2689) 0-1 · 20th European Teams · 2015-11-21
- GM Yi Wei (2729) – GM Qun Ma (2645) 1/2-1/2 · CHN Team Asian Games Q2 · 2022-04-17
Search all games of the Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Semkov (2465) – GM Nurlan_Ibrayev (2480) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- wbbi (2049) – All_American_5_BAKER (2089) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- nima94 (2078) – chrisotter (2048) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Three Knights Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3
Continuations
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation (8… f5 9. O-O) E43 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 Ne4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bd3 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 f5 9. O-O
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, 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
- Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation, Carlsbad Variation E23
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.