Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation, Botvinnik Attack
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5
The Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation, Botvinnik Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO E12, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5. It is a line of the Queen's Indian Defense. White is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.02 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8. e3 Nxg3 9. hxg3 Bg7 10. Qc2 Qe7)
- ECO
- E12
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pbpp1p2/1p2p2p/6pn/2PP4/2N2NB1/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 2 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
12 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 42%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2739) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729) 1-0 · Titled Tue 15th Aug Late · 2023-08-15
- GM Wenjun Ju (2558) – GM Xue Zhao (2506) 1-0 · IMSA Basque w 2016 · 2016-03-02
- IM Pavel Zpevak (2344) – GM Jiri Stocek (2589) 1/2-1/2 · Euro Online +2300 Day 2 · 2020-05-30
- GM Dragan Kosic (2367) – GM Pavel Anisimov (2514) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-MNE Premier 2024 · 2024-04-28
- IM Murali Krishnan B T (2283) – GM Eldar Gasanov (2520) 1/2-1/2 · 13th Parsvnath Open · 2015-01-15
Comes from
Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation (3… b6 4. Nc3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3
More Queen's Indian Defense lines (all)
- Queen's Indian Defense 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
- Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov-Petrosian Variation, Rashkovsky 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.