Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (5. Nc3 Bb7)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7
The Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 is a chess opening classified as ECO E14, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10 times by this move order. White won 50%, 10% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 6. cxd5 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 59; best line 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Qa4+ c6 8. Bd3 Be7)
- ECO
- E14
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pbp2ppp/1p2pn2/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. cxd5 | 6 (60%) | |
| 6. b3 | 2 (20%) | |
| 6. a3 | 1 (10%) | |
| 6. Be2 | 1 (10%) |
Master games
58 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 30%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Vladimir Kramnik (2787) – GM Levon Aronian (2830) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates 2014 · 2014-03-18
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Nihal Sarin (2670) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-15
- GM Gadir Guseinov (2661) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2757) 0-1 · Shusha Chess Blitz 2022 · 2022-09-24
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2758) – GM Aryan Tari (2642) 1/2-1/2 · 9th Norway Chess 2021 · 2021-09-17
- GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2725) – GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2633) 1-0 · World Blitz 2019 · 2019-12-29
Search all games of the Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- alejandromagno92 (2413) – nightmareluffy (2481) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Megermet (2204) – qyx20160607 (2313) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- Seb_Pinsonneault (2209) – LandyPJY (2274) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
More Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 lines (all)
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (5… c5 6. c4) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6. c4 Be7) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6. c4 g6) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6… O-O 7. Nc3) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (8… O-O 9. c4) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (5… Bd6 6. Bd3) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (7. O-O Bb7) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6. b3 b6) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6. Bd3 b6) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (7… Bb7 8. Bd3) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (6… Bb7 7. e3) E14
- Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 (8… Bb7 9. Bd3) E14
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.