Tree path 3 levels Queen's Pawn Game › Indian Defense › Normal Variation
- Chess Codex
- Queen's Pawn Game A40
- Indian Defense A45
- Normal Variation A50 you are here
Indian Defense: Normal Variation
Overview
Indian Defense: Normal Variation is a variation within the Flank Openings family, indexed as ECO A50.
The Flank Openings group covers flank openings — systems that delay the central pawn break and instead develop pieces and pawns on the wings.
It begins with 3 plies and takes 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 to reach the canonical position.
It is a variation of Indian Defense, which itself descends from the root opening Queen's Pawn Game.
It is the root of 13 named variations, with Benoni Defense, Benoni Defense, Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation, and others among the most studied.
Counted recursively, this branch covers 95 sub-variations at all depths.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- A50
- Group
- Flank Openings (A)
- Plies
- 3
- Parent
- Indian Defense
- Direct variations
- 13
- Total in subtree
- 95
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
85,459,347 games · White 48.1% / Draw 5.5% / Black 46.4%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| e6 | 29,798,464 | |
| g6 | 26,605,296 | |
| c5 | 9,718,805 | |
| e5 | 7,516,550 | |
| d5 | 4,720,397 | |
| d6 | 4,012,983 | |
| c6 | 1,489,805 | |
| b6 | 711,589 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:51:11
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Variations (13)
- A56 Benoni Defense
- A61 Benoni Defense
- A62 Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation
- A65 Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line
- A65 Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Bg5
- A65 Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line, with Nge2
- A51 Indian Defense: Budapest Defense
- A50 Indian Defense: Medusa Gambit
- A50 Indian Defense: Pyrenees Gambit
- A50 Mexican Defense
- A53 Old Indian Defense
- A50 Queen's Indian Accelerated
- A50 Slav Indian
Show all 95 sub-variations (full subtree)
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