E17

Queen's Indian Defense: Traditional Variation

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

Statistics from Lichess

331,838 games: White 49.7% / Draw 7.6% / Black 42.7%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation	285,957286K
Queen's Indian Defense: Anti-Queen's Indian System	36,87737K
	2,9272,927
	1,2811,281
	958958
	874874
	658658
	531531

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.27 The position is about equal

Best play: 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2 d5 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. Rfd1 Nxd2

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

By rating

Rating changes little here: Black scores 46% both under 1400 and at 2200 and up, and 43% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	2,597
1400–1799	32K
1800–2199	177K
2200 and up	131K
Masters, over the board	9,139

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

Queen's Indian Defense: Traditional Variation (ECO E17, Indian Defenses) is a variation of the Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Traditional Line, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 (5 moves).

In 331,838 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 49.7%, Black 42.7% and 7.6% were drawn. White's most played move here is 6. O-O, in 86% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played are Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation and Queen's Indian Defense: Anti-Queen's Indian System. In all, 11 named lines continue from it.

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

How to play against the Queen's Indian Defense: Traditional Variation

The most played answer, 6. O-O (Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation), also scores best for White: 53.7%, with White winning 49.9% and Black 42.4% of 286K games. Of the main answers, 6. Nc3 scores lowest: 52.3%. Stockfish's first choice is also 6. O-O.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

The Queen's Indian Defense: Traditional Variation peaked in 2018 at 0.017% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.013% in 2025.

0.012%0.013%0.017%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.012%	4,218
2017	0.015%	8,084
2018	0.017%	13,383
2019	0.015%	19,209
2020	0.014%	41,611
2021	0.011%	43,624
2022	0.012%	44,343
2023	0.012%	46,905
2024	0.012%	44,642
2025	0.013%	45,136
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.014%	14,875

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

Variations (2)

All 11 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Indian Defense: Traditional Variation (E17)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-indian-defense-traditional-variation