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

The Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E18, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 264 times by this move order. White won 50%, 9% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 7… Ne4 (56% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.23 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 7… Ne4 8. Qc2 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 a5 10. b3)

ECO: E18
Moves: 13 plies
FEN: rn1q1rk1/pbppbppp/1p2pn2/8/2PP4/2N2NP1/PP2PPBP/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 6 7
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	5	40%60%
1500-1999	40	50%45%
2000+	219	51%40%
All	264	50%41%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7… Ne4	148 (56%)	45%46%
7… d5 Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line	50 (19%)	60%32%
7… d6	32 (12%)	63%31%
7… c5	23 (9%)	43%48%
7… Bb4	3 (1%)	67%33%
7… Na6 Classical Variation, Tiviakov Defense	3 (1%)	67%33%
7… a6	3 (1%)	100%
7… a5	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

1,408 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 35%, Black 28%). The strongest:

GM Levon Aronian (2816) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Final Masters · 2012-10-13
GM Viswanathan Anand (2780) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Final Masters · 2012-09-29
GM Levon Aronian (2809) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2764) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates · 2013-03-23
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) – GM Teimour Radjabov (2765) 1-0 · Chessable Masters GpB · 2020-06-21
GM Anish Giri (2764) – GM Vincent Keymer (2767) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Super Rapid Croatia · 2026-07-03

Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

ScaryIndianJunior (2825) – Towser1 (2720) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
ScaryIndianJunior (2813) – Towser1 (2723) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
AlwaysLookingForMore (2660) – Nobody5002 (2556) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O

Continuations

Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Tiviakov Defense E18 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Na6
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line E18 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 d5
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Main Line E19 · 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

More Queen's Indian Defense lines (all)

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.