Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation, American Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Ne2 Ne4
The Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation, American Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E44, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Ne2 Ne4. 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 20 times by this move order. White won 55%, 10% were drawn and Black won 35%. The most popular continuation is 6. Qc2 (55% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.23 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. Nxc3 Nxc3)
- ECO
- E44
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/p1pp1ppp/1p2p3/8/1bPPn3/2N1P3/PP2NPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Ne2 Ne4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 18 | |
| All | 20 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Qc2 | 11 (55%) | |
| 6. Bd2 | 5 (25%) | |
| 6. a3 | 3 (15%) | |
| 6. f3 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
573 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 29%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 0-1 · Titled Tue 10th Mar 2026 · 2026-03-10
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com Open Playoffs · 2026-04-24
- GM Alexey Sarana (2717) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2796) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-07-31
- GM Alexey Sarana (2717) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2796) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-07-31
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM stanbad1 (2723) – Andriy_2007 (2585) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- anhbutk (2672) – Andriy_2007 (2580) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- TooWeakTooSlow05 (2665) – FAT52 (2502) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Nimzo-Indian Defense: St. Petersburg Variation (4… b6 5. Ne2) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 5. Ne2
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.