A45Opening
Indian Defense
1. d4 Nf6
White to move
- Legal moves
- 28
- Games in the next 4 moves
- 425,466
- Different positions among them
- 148,580
- Named lines from here
- 685
1...Nf6 keeps Black’s options open: the Nimzo-Indian, the King’s Indian, the Grünfeld and many other defences can follow.
It is reached after 2 moves: 1. d4 Nf6.
White is to move and has 28 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 425,466 different games. Those games reach 148,580 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 2.9 on average.
The Lichess opening list names 685 further lines after this position, such as Trompowsky Attack (2. Bg5) and Normal Variation (2. c4).

Move by move
- 1. d4Queen's Pawn Game
- 1... Nf6Indian Defense
Named lines from here
- Trompowsky AttackA452. Bg5
- Normal VariationA502. c4
- Knights VariationA462. Nf3
- Queen's Pawn Game, Chigorin VariationA452. Nc3 d5
- Gibbins-Weidenhagen GambitA452. g4
- Paleface AttackA452. f3
- Omega GambitA452. e4
- Basque OpeningA452. b3
- Canard OpeningA452. f4
- Accelerated London SystemA452. Bf4
- Pawn Push VariationA452. d5
- Tartakower AttackA452. g3
- Lazard GambitA452. Nd2 e5
- Maddigan GambitA452. Nc3 e5
- Reversed Chigorin DefenseA452. Nc3 c5
Famous games through this position
Botvinnik's Bishop SacrificeBotvinnik – Capablanca, AVRO 1938, move 1Botvinnik beats former world champion Capablanca with a bishop sacrifice on move 30.
The Immortal Zugzwang GameSämisch – Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923, move 1White still has plenty of pieces, but every move he could make loses.
Related openings
- Queen's Pawn GameA401. d4
- Queen's GambitD061. d4 d5 2. c4
- Benoni Defense: Old BenoniA431. d4 c5
- Old Indian DefenseA411. d4 d6 2. c4
- Dutch DefenseA801. d4 f5
- Queen's Pawn Game: London SystemD021. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4
- Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London SystemD001. d4 d5 2. Bf4
- Rapport-Jobava SystemD011. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4
- Queen's Pawn Game: Colle SystemD041. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3
- Blackmar-Diemer GambitD001. d4 d5 2. e4
FEN
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