Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3
The Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E15, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,851 times by this move order. White won 52%, 7% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bb7 (71% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Bg2)
- ECO
- E15
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/p1pp1ppp/1p2pn2/8/2PP4/5NP1/PP2PP1P/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 31 | |
| 1500-1999 | 487 | |
| 2000+ | 1,333 | |
| All | 1,851 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bb7 Fianchetto Variation, Traditional Line | 1,312 (71%) | |
| 4… Ba6 Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation | 466 (25%) | |
| 4… Bb4+ | 49 (3%) | |
| 4… d5 | 8 (0%) | |
| 4… c6 | 7 (0%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 5 (0%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 2 (0%) | |
| 4… c5 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
1,376 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 39%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2792) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 1/2-1/2 · WCh 2014 · 2014-11-14
- GM Anish Giri (2769) – GM Michael Adams (2761) 1/2-1/2 · Du Te Cup 2017 · 2017-03-29
- GM Liren Ding (2766) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2760) 1-0 · 78th Tata Steel GpA · 2016-01-30
- GM Levon Aronian (2775) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2750) 1/2-1/2 · FTX Road to Miami Prelim · 2022-07-13
- GM Levon Aronian (2816) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2697) 1-0 · 40th Olympiad Open · 2012-08-30
Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto 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
- LuckyStar2011 (2816) – Nana_jede_cevape (2799) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Indian Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
Continuations
- Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation E15 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6
- Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Traditional Line E15 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7
More Queen's Indian Defense lines (all)
- 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
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Polovodin Gambit 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.