Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation (7. Bd3 Bb7)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7
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. e3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 8. O-O (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 8. O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. Nd2 Nxd2)
- ECO
- E43
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rn1qk2r/pbpp2pp/1p2p3/5p2/1bPPn3/2NBPN2/PPQ2PPP/R1B1K2R w KQkq - 2 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. O-O | 2 (100%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2608) – GM Kirill Shevchenko (2605) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 15th June · 2021-06-15
Search all games of the Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Juank1989 (1881) – Llamafied_Chase (1960) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- SergeyKovrigin (1911) – abostark (1780) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Rubinstein System (3… Bb4 4. e3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3
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.