Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation, Timman's Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3
The Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation, Timman's Line is a chess opening classified as ECO E15, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3. 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 5 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 5… d5 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.07 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 5… d5 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Qd1 Bb4+ 8. Nc3)
- ECO
- E15
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/p1pp1ppp/bp2pn2/8/2PP4/1Q3NP1/PP2PP1P/RNB1KB1R b KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qb3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… d5 | 3 (60%) | |
| 5… c5 | 2 (40%) |
Master games
316 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 38%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) – Seer 20241122 (3542) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-05
- Seer 20241122 (3542) – Stockfish dev-20241122-b7f17346 (3677) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-02
- LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) – Stockfish dev-20230308-39da50e (3607) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-24
- Stockfish dev-20230308-39da50e (3607) – LCZero 0.30-dag-8092b376-BT2-3 (3573) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Premier 2023 · 2023-03-22
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2757) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2767) 1/2-1/2 · Tashkent FIDE GP 2014 · 2014-10-24
Highest-rated Lichess games
- AlwaysLookingForMore (2705) – LY0329 (2803) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- RobertFischerUkraine (2294) – heng1115 (2352) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Gijsu (2288) – Genzar1000 (2258) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6
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.