E70

King's Indian Defense: Kramer Variation

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

Statistics from Lichess

227,779 games: White 51.9% / Draw 5.1% / Black 43.0%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	194,081194K
	10,07810K
	5,0515,051
	4,1624,162
	3,6063,606
	3,3933,393
	2,3392,339
	1,2911,291

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.31 White is slightly better

Best play: 5... O-O 6. f3 c5 7. Be3 Nc6 8. d5 Ne5 9. Ng3 b5 10. cxb5

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 better this line does for White: White scores 52% under 1400, 55% at 2200 and up and 56% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	5,759
1400–1799	45K
1800–2199	130K
2200 and up	66K
Masters, over the board	1,778

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: Kramer Variation (ECO E70, Indian Defenses) is a variation of the King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nge2 (5 moves).

In 227,779 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 51.9%, Black 43.0% and 5.1% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…O-O, in 85% 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 King's Indian Defense: Kramer Variation peaked in 2020 at 0.012% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.0073% in 2025.

0.0085%0.0073%0.012%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.0085%	3,029
2017	0.0099%	5,449
2018	0.012%	9,106
2019	0.011%	13,175
2020	0.012%	34,167
2021	0.0096%	37,670
2022	0.0082%	30,843
2023	0.008%	30,006
2024	0.0076%	27,422
2025	0.0073%	25,333
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.0073%	8,046

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

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Indian Defense: Kramer Variation (E70)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-indian-defense-kramer-variation