A49

Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation

Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.

Statistics from Lichess

1,943,564 games: White 48.6% / Draw 7.0% / Black 44.4%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	1,781,3981.8M
	78,58079K
	50,08750K
	14,47814K
	7,8687,868
	7,3127,312
	1,0651,065
	1,0141,014

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.18 The position is about equal

Best play: 3... d5 4. c4 c6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O

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

By rating

Rating changes little here: White scores 50% under 1400, 51% at 2200 and up and 53% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	112K
1400–1799	405K
1800–2199	1.2M
2200 and up	520K
Masters, over the board	11K

Master games

Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F. 1–0, 2014
Kramnik, V. – Vachier Lagrave, M. ½–½, 2016
Aronian, L. – Kasparov, G. ½–½, 2017
Carlsen, M. – Grischuk, A. 0–1, 2016
Carlsen, M. – Grischuk, A. 1–0, 2016

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

Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation (ECO A49, Flank Openings) is a variation of the East Indian Defense, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 (3 moves).

In 1,943,564 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 48.6%, Black 44.4% and 7.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 3…Bg7, in 92% of those games.

Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.

Write a description or report a mistake

What would you like to send? A description of this line A mistake on this page (moves, name, statistics…)

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Your name (optional) Your email (optional, not published)

Description

Popularity by year

The Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation peaked in 2018 at 0.095% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.068% in 2025.

0.067%0.068%0.095%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.067%	24,040
2017	0.083%	45,732
2018	0.095%	74,771
2019	0.091%	113,379
2020	0.092%	270,294
2021	0.075%	292,764
2022	0.073%	275,608
2023	0.069%	259,175
2024	0.069%	246,169
2025	0.068%	236,432
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.068%	74,635

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

Transpositions

A05 King's Indian Attack: Symmetrical Defense then 3. d4

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation (A49)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/indian-defense-przepiorka-variation