Caissa Codex
E15

Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Rubinstein Variation

Chess diagram: Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Rubinstein Variation after 7. Nh4

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

16,153 games: White 56.7% / Draw 5.0% / Black 38.2%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
4,9454,945
3,3653,365
2,7422,742
1,4361,436
751751
675675
576576
525525

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 1, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.45 White is slightly better

Best play: 7... g6 8. Nc3 Bg7 9. Bg5 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Nxd5 Nc6 12. Qd2

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

Overview

Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Rubinstein Variation (ECO E15, Indian Defenses) is a variation of the Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Sämisch Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 c5 6. d5 exd5 7. Nh4 (7 moves).

In 16,153 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 56.7%, Black 38.2% and 5.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 7…g6, in 31% 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?

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

How to play against the Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Rubinstein Variation

The most played answer, 7…g6, also scores best for Black: 50.6%, with Black winning 47.2% and White 46.0% of 4,945 games. Of the main answers, 7…Qc7 scores lowest: 31.2%. Stockfish's first choice is also 7…g6.

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

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 6. d5 exd5 7. Nh4, the position after Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Sämisch Variation also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Rubinstein Variation (E15)”. Lichess data as of 1 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-indian-defense-fianchetto-variation-rubinstein-variation

https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-indian-defense-fianchetto-variation-rubinstein-variation