Opening name: Indian Defence
Opening line: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3
Lichess Board
Wikibooks Page
Winning percentages
White: 41107 (32.21%)
Black: 33082 (25.93%)
Draws: 53416 (41.86%)
Indian Defence
2. Nf3
White develops a piece to its ideal square and keeps his options open. This move also is important for controlling the center.
This position is also often reached via the move order 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4
Most popular responses
2...d5 (Queen's Pawn Opening) White's main options: A move like 3. Nc3 is certainly not bad, but it doesn't put much pressure on black. White's c-pawn plays a key role in control of the center, and moving the knight to c3 earlier usually allows black easy equality. Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (48602390 games)
2...g6 (East Indian Defence) A transposition position as White has yet to commit to playing c4, and Black has not committed the d-pawn to either d5 or d6. Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (20819865 games)
2...e6 (Queen's Pawn Opening) A typical black move in Queen's Pawn Openings, 2...e6 allows black to develop the f8 bishop, after which castling will be possible. Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (18634049 games)
2...c5 (Queen's Pawn Game) Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (4900203 games)
2...b5 (Polish Defence Deferred) With this move, Black prevents White from playing c4 and prepares his queen's bishop to be fianchettoed. Lichess Analysis - Wikibooks (86859 games)
Engine Evaluation
Depth: 58
Score: +0.1
Best Move: d5
PV Line: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qa4+ Nc6 7. Bg5
Historical games for Indian Defence
| Game | Result | Year |
| Carlsen, Magnus (2863) vs Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | 1/2-1/2 | 2020 |
| Carlsen, M. (2881) vs Aronian, L. (2815) | 1/2-1/2 | 2014 |
| Aronian, L. (2812) vs Carlsen, M. (2872) | 1/2-1/2 | 2014 |
| Aronian, L. (2805) vs Carlsen, M. (2877) | 0-1 | 2014 |
| Aronian, Levon (2813) vs Carlsen, Magnus (2868) | 0-1 | 2013 |
| Carlsen, M. (2835) vs Caruana, F. (2832) | 1/2-1/2 | 2018 |
| Carlsen, M. (2835) vs Caruana, F. (2832) | 1/2-1/2 | 2018 |
| Carlsen, M. (2861) vs Ding Liren (2805) | 1/2-1/2 | 2019 |
| Carlsen, M. (2881) vs Caruana, F. (2783) | 1-0 | 2014 |
| Carlsen, Magnus (2863) vs Ding, Liren (2791) | 1/2-1/2 | 2020 |