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Indian Defense

Moves

Black scores

48.4%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

46.2% won4.3% drawn49.5% lost

Theory 46.7% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 60M games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
1...Nf6
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
50.9%49.1%1.6M
49.0%47.4%3.0M
48.9%47.3%5.3M
49.0%47.3%8.3M
48.7%46.7%11M
48.6%46.3%13M
48.0%45.4%10M
46.9%44.0%6.1M
45.5%41.5%1.4M

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 2.Bf4, the Accelerated London System.

Is the Indian Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone48.4
Stockfish46.7

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 48.4 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

29th of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 56.9% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 40.9% · 2500+ rapid

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.

Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More Indian Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 49 Indian Defense lines, ranked

49 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
Indian Defense: Omega Gambit1.2M games
52.7%Floor 52.6%
2
Indian Defense: Colle System, King's Indian Variation892K games
52.6%Floor 52.5%
3
Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Advance Variation161K games
52.2%Floor 52.0%
Indian Defense: Omega Gambit, Arafat Gambit16K games
52.5%Floor 51.9%
Indian Defense: West Indian Defense1.2M games
51.9%Floor 51.8%
Indian Defense: Lazard Gambit4.8K games
52.3%Floor 51.2%
Indian Defense: Pawn Push Variation667K games
51.2%Floor 51.0%
Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Maltese Falcon2.2K games
52.8%Floor 51.0%
Indian Defense: Paleface Attack, Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Deferred136K games
51.2%Floor 50.9%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Fajarowicz Variation287K games
50.4%Floor 50.3%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense2.3M games
50.0%Floor 50.0%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Adler Variation1.1M games
50.0%Floor 49.9%
Indian Defense: Gedult Attack43K games
50.3%Floor 49.9%
Indian Defense: Reversed Chigorin Defense695K games
49.9%Floor 49.8%
Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit Accepted37K games
50.0%Floor 49.6%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Alekhine Variation, Tartakower Defense17K games
50.3%Floor 49.6%
Indian Defense: Spielmann-Indian1.7M games
49.5%Floor 49.4%
Indian Defense: Seirawan Attack358K games
49.5%Floor 49.3%
Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Alekhine Variation48K games
49.6%Floor 49.2%
Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Oshima Defense1.5K games
51.0%Floor 48.9%
Indian Defense: Pseudo-Benko75K games
49.1%Floor 48.8%
Indian Defense: Wade-Tartakower Defense3.4M games
48.6%Floor 48.5%
Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Basman-Williams Attack51K games
48.8%Floor 48.5%
Indian Defense15M games
48.4%Floor 48.4%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Fajarowicz-Steiner Variation17K games
48.9%Floor 48.2%
Indian Defense: Accelerated London System16M games
48.1%Floor 48.0%
Indian Defense: Tartakower Attack899K games
47.9%Floor 47.8%
Indian Defense: Przepiorka Variation987K games
47.7%Floor 47.6%
Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Adorjan Gambit317 games
52.2%Floor 47.6%
Indian Defense: Normal Variation3.3M games
47.6%Floor 47.6%
Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit51K games
47.6%Floor 47.3%
Indian Defense: Dzindzi-Indian Defense32K games
47.4%Floor 46.9%
Indian Defense: London System3.2M games
46.9%Floor 46.8%
Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian1.8M games
46.8%Floor 46.8%
Indian Defense: Devin Gambit14K games
47.4%Floor 46.7%
Indian Defense: Czech-Indian427K games
46.8%Floor 46.7%
Indian Defense: Knights Variation2.6M games
46.7%Floor 46.6%
Indian Defense: Pyrenees Gambit37K games
46.8%Floor 46.4%
Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Alekhine Variation, Leko Gambit689 games
49.4%Floor 46.3%
Indian Defense: Polish Variation45K games
46.5%Floor 46.1%
Indian Defense: Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, Stummer Gambit3.2K games
47.1%Floor 45.6%
Indian Defense: Knights Variation, Alburt-Miles Variation24K games
46.0%Floor 45.5%
Indian Defense: Maddigan Gambit189K games
45.5%Floor 45.3%
Indian Defense: Döry Indian17K games
45.8%Floor 45.2%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Fajarowicz Defense, Bonsdorf Variation7.0K games
45.9%Floor 45.0%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Alekhine Variation105K games
45.1%Floor 44.9%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Rubinstein Variation367K games
44.9%Floor 44.7%
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Alekhine Variation, Abonyi Variation42K games
44.5%Floor 44.1%
Indian Defense: Medusa Gambit21K games
39.6%Floor 39.0%
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Indian Defense family scores 48.4% for Black, from 60M rated Lichess games across 49 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
60M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.