Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O

The Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E17, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 439 times by this move order. White won 51%, 8% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 6… O-O (89% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 6… O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2 d5 9. Qc2)

ECO: E17
Moves: 11 plies
FEN: rn1qk2r/pbppbppp/1p2pn2/8/2PP4/5NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 4 6
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	6	33%67%
1500-1999	79	49%46%
2000+	354	51%40%
All	439	51%41%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6… O-O	392 (89%)	49%42%
6… d6	25 (6%)	64%36%
6… d5	10 (2%)	40%60%
6… c5	4 (1%)	50%50%
6… Ne4	3 (1%)	100%
6… h6	2 (0%)	100%
6… Kf8	1 (0%)	100%
6… Na6	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

340 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 27%, Black 30%). The strongest:

GM Teimour Radjabov (2788) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2769) 1-0 · World Blitz Final · 2012-07-10
GM Erigaisi Arjun (2776) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) 0-1 · Esports World Cup B 2025 · 2025-07-29
GM Alexander Grischuk (2732) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 1/2-1/2 · Levitov Moscow CC Blitz m · 2024-02-16
GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2718) – GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2694) 1-0 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-30
GM Rasmus Svane (2629) – GM Vincent Keymer (2720) 1/2-1/2 · 96th ch-GER Masters 2025 · 2025-05-22

Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense: Classical 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
July16Q (2662) – Towser1 (2686) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

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

Continuations

Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation E18 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3
Queen's Indian Defense: Euwe Variation E17 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. b3
Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Kramnik Variation E17 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Polugaevsky Gambit E17 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. d5 exd5 8. Nh4
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Taimanov Gambit E17 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. d5 exd5 8. Nd4

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.