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King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation

ECO code
E91
Moves
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About this variation

White develops naturally with Nf3 and Be2 and Black plays ...e5. After d5 the classic plans are White's queenside attack against Black's kingside pawn storm.

The Orthodox Variation, also called the Classical, arises after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5. White develops naturally and castles, while Black challenges the center with ...e5. After 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7, the Mar del Plata Variation, the center is locked and both sides attack on opposite wings.

White's plan is to play on the queenside, where the pawns point. Typical moves are b4, c5 and Nd2-c4, opening the c-file and attacking c7 and d6. Black's plan is to play on the kingside with ...Nd7 or ...Ne8, ...f5, ...f4 and ...g5-g4, using a pawn storm to open lines against White's king. Often the race is decided by who breaks through first, and Black's attack can be very dangerous even when White wins material on the queenside.

There are several other branches. White can play 7. d5 at once (the Petrosian System), or 7. dxe5 to exchange queens and reach a quiet endgame that is often almost equal. Black can choose 7...Na6 or 7...exd4 instead of 7...Nc6, leading to different structures with more central play.

The Orthodox is the main battleground of the King's Indian and has been played by great attackers such as Bronstein, Fischer, Kasparov and Radjabov. It suits Black players who love sharp, unbalanced positions and White players who are ready to defend accurately and win on the queenside.

A practical approach for Black is to learn the main plan after 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7, with ...Nd7 or ...Ne8, ...f5 and the kingside pawn storm, and to add White's alternatives such as the Petrosian System with 7. d5 and the Gligoric System with 7. Be3 later. The same attacking patterns appear in all of these lines.

It is one of the main lines of the King's Indian Defense.

King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation statistics

The King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation was reached in 250.9K master games (1.2% of all master games), and White scored 54% from there. On Lichess it comes up in <0.1% of games, most often among players rated 2201–2400 (0.3%).

Master games

250.9K

1.2% of games between players rated 2500+

Club games on Lichess

197.2K

<0.1% of games between players rated up to 2400

White wins Draws Black wins

How often it comes up, by rating

  • 0–1000 <0.1%
  • 1001–1200 <0.1%
  • 1201–1400 <0.1%
  • 1401–1600 <0.1%
  • 1601–1800 <0.1%
  • 1801–2000 <0.1%
  • 2001–2200 0.2%
  • 2201–2400 0.3%

Most common next moves in master games

MoveGamesPlayedResults
6... e5165.7K66%
6... Nbd721,9508.7%
6... Bg417,4497.0%
6... Na616,8396.7%
6... c514,9145.9%

Famous players with the most games here

  • Daniel Naroditsky 3,053 games
  • Hikaru Nakamura 630 games
  • Ben Finegold 502 games
  • Alireza Firouzja 328 games
  • Alexandra Botez 222 games
  • Dommaraju Gukesh 146 games

Master games from the Chessmont database (CC BY-SA 4.0). Club games from the Lichess open database.

Other King's Indian Defense variations