Queen's Indian Defense: Capablanca Variation (5. Bg2 Bb4+)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+
The Queen's Indian Defense: Capablanca Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E16, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 401 times by this move order. White won 52%, 8% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 6. Bd2 (74% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. O-O d5)
- ECO
- E16
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rn1qk2r/pbpp1ppp/1p2pn2/8/1bPP4/5NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 3 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 116 | |
| 2000+ | 281 | |
| All | 401 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Bd2 | 298 (74%) | |
| 6. Nbd2 | 67 (17%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 35 (9%) | |
| 6. Kf1 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,444 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 32%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-03
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-22
- GM Daniil Dubov (2710) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2862) 1-0 · Opera Euro Rapid KO 2021 · 2021-02-10
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2786) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2780) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 3rd Oct Late · 2023-10-03
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 1st Aug Early · 2023-08-01
Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense: Capablanca Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM cutemouse83 (2922) – vistagusta (2828) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- ScaryIndianJunior (2817) – Americanchampion (2823) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- ScaryIndianJunior (2817) – canc3111 (2792) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Traditional Line 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7
Continuations
- Queen's Indian Defense: Riumin Variation (6. Bd2 Be7) E16 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7
- Queen's Indian Defense: Capablanca Variation (6… O-O 7. O-O) E16 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Monticelli Trap E11 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. Nc3 Ne4 9. Qc2 Nxc3 10. Ng5
More Queen's Indian Defense lines (all)
- Queen's Indian Defense E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation (3… b6 4. Nc3) E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation, Botvinnik Attack E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Andersson Variation E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Classical Variation E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Hedgehog Variation E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Kasparov Attack E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Main Line E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Marco Defense E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Modern Variation E12
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Petrosian Attack E12
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.