Tree path 6 levels Indian Defense: West Indian Defense › King's Indian Defense › Normal Variation › King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation › King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation › Normal Defense
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense
Overview
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense is a variation within the Indian Defenses family, indexed as ECO E81.
The Indian Defenses group covers Indian defences — hypermodern lines where Black challenges the centre with pieces rather than pawns.
The line arises from 10 plies — specifically the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O.
It is a variation of King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, which itself descends from the root opening Indian Defense: West Indian Defense.
It is the root of 7 named variations, with King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack, King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation, King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Byrne Defense, and others among the most studied.
Together the deeper variations number 20 across the full subtree.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- E81
- Group
- Indian Defenses (E)
- Plies
- 10
- Direct variations
- 7
- Total in subtree
- 20
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
2,437,203 games · White 50.7% / Draw 5.2% / Black 44.1%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Be3 | 1,873,564 | |
| Bg5 | 217,210 | |
| Bd3 | 161,246 | |
| Nge2 | 149,199 | |
| g4 | 9,319 | |
| h4 | 6,517 | |
| Be2 | 4,630 | |
| d5 | 3,611 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:23:28
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Variations (7)
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Byrne Defense
- E82 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Double Fianchetto
- E85 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit
- E83 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Yates Defense
Show all 20 sub-variations (full subtree)
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack 11-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bobotsov-Korchnoi-Petrosian Variation 11-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Byrne Defense 14-ply
- E82 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Double Fianchetto 12-ply
- E85 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation 12-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit 12-ply
- E83 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Yates Defense 12-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack 15-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack 17-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Steiner Attack 17-ply
- E86 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation 14-ply
- E87 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation 13-ply
- E83 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Panno Formation 14-ply
- E83 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Ruban Variation 14-ply
- E81 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit Accepted 17-ply
- E87 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Bronstein Defense 23-ply
- E88 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation 14-ply
- E89 Closed Variation, Main Line 16-ply
- E84 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Panno Main Line 16-ply
- E87 King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Orthodox Variation, Bronstein Variation 24-ply