Old Indian Defense: Normal Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3
The Old Indian Defense: Normal Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO A55, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3. It is a line of the Old 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 121 times by this move order. White won 36%, 7% were drawn and Black won 57%. The most popular continuation is 5… Be7 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.75 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 5… c6 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3)
- ECO
- A55
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppn1ppp/3p1n2/4p3/2PPP3/2N2N2/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 47 | |
| 2000+ | 73 | |
| All | 121 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Be7 | 55 (45%) | |
| 5… g6 | 32 (26%) | |
| 5… c6 | 15 (12%) | |
| 5… exd4 | 11 (9%) | |
| 5… h6 | 4 (3%) | |
| 5… c5 | 3 (2%) | |
| 5… b6 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
390 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 25%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-04
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-04
- LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) – Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
- Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) – LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-12
- Stockfish2021061923 (3632) – LCZero0.28.0-rc1_69146 (3614) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Premier 2021 · 2021-07-09
Search all games of the Old Indian Defense: Normal Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NameTheGame (2696) – Ariel_mlr (2591) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- FM iustin104 (2556) – InvadedDorms (2682) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- brrfl (2532) – IM AsanovTimur (2533) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Old Indian Defense (2. c4 d6) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6
Continuations
- King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Positional Defense E94 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O
More Old Indian Defense lines (all)
- Old Indian Defense (1… d6 2. c4) A41
- Old Indian Defense: Aged Gibbon Gambit A53
- Old Indian Defense: Czech Variation, with Nc3 A53
- Old Indian Defense: Czech Variation, with Nf3 A53
- Old Indian Defense: Janowski Variation A53
- Old Indian Defense: Janowski Variation, Fianchetto Variation A53
- Old Indian Defense: Janowski Variation, Grinberg Gambit A53
- Old Indian Defense: Janowski Variation, Main Line A53
- Old Indian Defense: Duz-Khotimirsky Variation A54
- Old Indian Defense: Tartakower-Indian A54
- Old Indian Defense: Two Knights Variation A54
- Old Indian Defense: Ukrainian Variation A54
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.