A48

East Indian Defense

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Statistics from Lichess

13,637,458 games: White 48.0% / Draw 6.2% / Black 45.8%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	3,546,6153.5M
London System	2,786,0922.8M
Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation	1,898,6901.9M
Torre Attack: Fianchetto Defense	1,543,2311.5M
	1,539,3561.5M
	1,087,4001.1M
	458,931459K
	300,995301K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 4, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.21 The position is about equal

Best play: 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. h4 dxc4 6. e4 c5 7. d5 b5

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

The stronger the players, the worse this line does for Black: Black scores 52% under 1400, 48% at 2200 and up and 46% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	1.6M
1400–1799	4.4M
1800–2199	8M
2200 and up	2.9M
Masters, over the board	55K

Master games

Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F. 1–0, 2014
Carlsen, M. – Ding, L. ½–½, 2020
Carlsen, M. – Vachier Lagrave, M. 0–1, 2019
Carlsen, M. – Gelfand, B. ½–½, 2014
Carlsen, M. – Nakamura, H. ½–½, 2013

Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 27, 2026

Overview

East Indian Defense (ECO A48, Flank Openings) is a variation of the Indian Defense: Knights Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 (2 moves).

In 13,637,458 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 48.0%, Black 45.8% and 6.2% were drawn. White's most played move here is 3. c4, in 26% of those games.

It branches into 5 named variations; the most played are London System and Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation. In all, 16 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the East Indian Defense

3. g3 (Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation) scores best for White: 52.1%, with White winning 48.6% and Black 44.4% of 1.9M games. The most played, 3. c4, scores 51.4% in 3.5M games, and 3. e3 scores lowest: 47.8%. Stockfish's first choice is 3. c4.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

The East Indian Defense peaked in 2018 at 0.68% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.48% in 2025.

0.52%0.48%0.68%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.52%	184,660
2017	0.61%	334,190
2018	0.68%	531,488
2019	0.63%	780,144
2020	0.63%	1,856,985
2021	0.52%	2,027,839
2022	0.51%	1,913,300
2023	0.49%	1,849,930
2024	0.48%	1,732,113
2025	0.48%	1,676,124
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.49%	537,201

Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling

Variations (5)

All 16 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “East Indian Defense (A48)”. Lichess data as of 4 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/east-indian-defense