King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation
The Averbakh Variation is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Bg5, a line of the King's Indian Defense named after Yuri Averbakh. Read the guide
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
418,888 games: White 52.4% / Draw 5.7% / Black 41.9%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible Defense | 113,178113K | |
| Benoni Defense | 95,87296K | |
| Geller Defense | 73,74274K | |
| Nc6 Defense | 38,68739K | |
| 27,33827K | ||
| 24,80525K | ||
| Modern Defense | 22,68923K | |
| Spanish Defense | 5,1925,192 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 8, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.23 The position is about equal
Best play: 6... c5 7. d5 e6 8. Qc1 exd5 9. exd5 b5 10. cxb5 a6 11. Nf3
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 54% both under 1400 and at 2200 and up, and 58% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 6,436 | |
| 1400–1799 | 56K | |
| 1800–2199 | 237K | |
| 2200 and up | 143K | |
| Masters, over the board | 6,212 |
Master games
- Erigaisi, A. – Abdusattorov, N.
- Gelfand, B. – Nakamura, H.
- Gelfand, B. – Grischuk, A.
- Carlsen, M. – Van Wely, L.
- Ivanchuk, V. – Topalov, V.
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
Description
The Averbakh Variation is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Bg5, a line of the King's Indian Defense named after Yuri Averbakh. The bishop on g5 stops Black's usual ...e5 for the moment.
The idea
If Black plays 6...e5 at once, White wins material: 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Nd5 Nxd5 10.Bxd8 Nb6 11.Bxc7, and White is an exchange and a pawn up in an ending that should be winning.
White has several ways to continue developing, such as Qd2, Nf3, f4 or even h4. Black gets good play against all of these set-ups.
Main lines
- 6...h6 drives the bishop back and gives Black the option of a later ...g5, though in practice this weakens Black's position.
- 6...c5 is the old main line.
- 6...Nbd7 and 6...Na6 are also played. 6...Na6 was Judit Polgár's move.
The Averbakh System of the Modern Defense, 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4, can transpose into this variation. With 5.Bg5 before Be2, White plays the Accelerated Averbakh.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 52.4% of the 420,000 games and Black 41.9%. White leads at every rating: 53.4% against 41.6% between 1800 and 2199, and 50.7% against 42.1% from 2200 up. In 6,212 master games over the board White won 39.6%, Black 24.0%, and 36.5% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation
6…Na6 (Modern Defense) scores best for Black: 50.2%, with Black winning 47.0% and White 46.5% of 23K games. The most played, 6…h6, scores 44.1% in 113K games, and 6…e5 scores lowest: 34.5%. Stockfish's first choice is 6…c5.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black'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 King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation peaked in 2018 at 0.022% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.015% in 2025.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.015% | 5,388 |
| 2017 | 0.019% | 10,399 |
| 2018 | 0.022% | 17,029 |
| 2019 | 0.019% | 23,763 |
| 2020 | 0.019% | 54,905 |
| 2021 | 0.015% | 59,964 |
| 2022 | 0.016% | 58,537 |
| 2023 | 0.016% | 59,519 |
| 2024 | 0.015% | 52,737 |
| 2025 | 0.015% | 51,878 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.016% | 17,738 |
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 (6)
All 10 named lines that continue from here
- E74 Benoni Defense 6 moves
- E73 Flexible Defense 6 moves
- E73 Geller Defense 6 moves
- E73 Modern Defense 6 moves
- E73 Nc6 Defense 6 moves
- E73 Spanish Defense 6 moves
- E74 Advance Variation 7 moves
- E74 Exchange Variation 7 moves
- E73 Burgess Line 7 moves
- E75 King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation, Main Line 7 moves
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article King's Indian Defence, version of 23 September 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation (E73)”. Lichess data as of 8 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-indian-defense-averbakh-variation