Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (8… Bb7 9. Bd3)

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb2 Bb7 9. Bd3

Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 after 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb2 Bb7 9. Bd3 87654321abcdefgh

The Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 is a chess opening classified as ECO E14, reached after 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb2 Bb7 9. Bd3. Black 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: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9… Nbd7 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nb5 Be7 12. Ne5)

ECO
E14
Moves
17 plies
FEN
rn1q1rk1/pbp1bppp/1p3n2/3p4/3P4/1PNBPN2/PB3PPP/R2QK2R b KQ - 3 9
PGN
1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. b3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bb2 Bb7 9. Bd3

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

Master games

1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:

Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 and its sub-variations

Comes from

Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 d5) 1. Nf3 d5

More Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 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.