Caissa Codex
E95

King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation 7…Nbd7 8. Re1

Chess diagram: King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation after 8. Re1

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

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

Statistics from Lichess

60,354 games: White 52.9% / Draw 6.0% / Black 41.1%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
14,70415K
14,59415K
14,48614K
4,8674,867
2,9562,956
2,1802,180
1,5381,538
1,3881,388

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 28, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.38 White is slightly better

Best play: 8... Re8 9. Bf1 exd4 10. Nxd4 Ne5 11. Rb1 h6 12. h3 Nc6 13. Nc2

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

Overview

King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation (ECO E95, Indian Defenses) is a variation of the King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Re1 (8 moves).

In 60,354 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 52.9%, Black 41.1% and 6.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 8…c6, in 24% of those games.

It continues into one named variation, King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Positional Defense, Main Line.

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?

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

How to answer 8. Re1

8…a5 scores best for Black: 46.6%, with Black winning 43.6% and White 50.5% of 4,867 games. The most played, 8…c6, scores 46.3% in 15K games, and 8…exd4 scores lowest: 40.5%. Stockfish's first choice is 8…Re8.

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

Variations (1)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 7…Nbd7 8. Re1, the position after King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation also goes on to:

Transpositions

This position is also reached from these lines, by another move order:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation (E95)”. Lichess data as of 28 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-indian-defense-orthodox-variation-4

https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-indian-defense-orthodox-variation-4