E63

King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation

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Statistics from Lichess

271,099 games: White 46.0% / Draw 7.3% / Black 46.7%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	63,75264K
	49,87250K
	44,70145K
	36,86437K
	13,78914K
	13,32613K
	11,74912K
	10,67111K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 26, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.48 White is slightly better

Best play: 8. d5 Na5 9. b3 Rb8 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bd2 c5 12. dxc6 Nxc6

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

By rating

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	995
1400–1799	10K
1800–2199	123K
2200 and up	140K
Masters, over the board	7,431

Master games

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

King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation (ECO E63, Indian Defenses) is a variation of the King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 a6 (7 moves).

In 271,099 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.0%, Black 46.7% and 7.3% were drawn. White's most played move here is 8. e4, in 24% of those games.

It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation, Donner Line and King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation, Korchnoi Line.

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Description

How to play against the King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation

8. b3 scores best for White: 54.5%, with White winning 50.2% and Black 41.2% of 45K games. The most played answer, 8. e4, scores lowest: 45.9% in 64K games. Stockfish's first choice is 8. d5.

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 King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation has lost ground since 2016: 0.0083% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.011% (its peak: 0.016% in 2018).

0.011%0.0083%0.016%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.011%	3,855
2017	0.014%	7,437
2018	0.016%	12,649
2019	0.014%	18,061
2020	0.015%	44,494
2021	0.011%	42,464
2022	0.0093%	35,004
2023	0.0089%	33,363
2024	0.0086%	30,891
2025	0.0083%	28,820
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.0091%	9,929

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 (3)

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation (E63)”. Lichess data as of 26 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-indian-defense-fianchetto-variation-panno-variation