Tree path 3 levels Queen's Pawn Game › Queen's Pawn Game › Old Indian Defense
- Chess Codex
- Queen's Pawn Game A40
- Queen's Pawn Game A41
- Old Indian Defense A41 you are here
Old Indian Defense
Overview
Old Indian Defense is a variation within the Flank Openings family, indexed as ECO A41.
The Flank Openings group covers flank openings — systems that delay the central pawn break and instead develop pieces and pawns on the wings.
Play reaches this position via 1. d4 d6 2. c4, after 3 plies of opening development.
It is a variation of Queen's Pawn Game, which itself descends from the root opening Queen's Pawn Game.
It continues primarily into one named line, Rat Defense: English Rat.
In total, the branch covers 3 sub-variations across all depths.
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
- A41
- Group
- Flank Openings (A)
- Plies
- 3
- Parent
- Queen's Pawn Game
- Direct variations
- 1
- Total in subtree
- 3
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
9,494,258 games · White 48.4% / Draw 5.1% / Black 46.5%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nf6 | 3,159,133 | |
| g6 | 1,603,679 | |
| e5 | 1,342,368 | |
| c6 | 987,871 | |
| Nd7 | 716,899 | |
| e6 | 638,697 | |
| c5 | 160,761 | |
| Nc6 | 151,165 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:50:33
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