Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3
The Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO E19, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 56 times by this move order. White won 32%, 9% were drawn and Black won 59%. The most popular continuation is 9… d6 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 9… d6 10. b3 Be4 11. Rd1 Nd7 12. Ne1)
- ECO
- E19
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
rn1q1rk1/pbppbppp/1p2p3/8/2PP4/2Q2NP1/PP2PPBP/R1B2RK1 b - - 0 9- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 52 | |
| All | 56 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… d6 | 28 (50%) | |
| 9… f5 | 13 (23%) | |
| 9… c5 | 6 (11%) | |
| 9… Be4 | 5 (9%) | |
| 9… Bf6 | 2 (4%) | |
| 9… d5 | 2 (4%) |
Master games
403 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 33%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2806) – GM Richard Rapport (2763) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2021 · 2021-08-15
- GM Anish Giri (2773) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2755) 1/2-1/2 · 79th Tata Steel GpA · 2017-01-29
- GM Jaime Santos Latasa (2656) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2747) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2023 · 2023-08-07
- GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2611) – GM Hans Moke Niemann (2736) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th Jun Early · 2025-06-24
- GM Sabino Brunello (2552) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2779) 1/2-1/2 · 43rd Olympiad 2018 · 2018-10-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Poseku2005 (2555) – FuriaEn64 (2627) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Kesha05 (2621) – Nobody5002 (2554) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- ton61820 (2545) – land12345 (2592) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3
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.