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King's Indian Defense

Moves

Black scores

48.9%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

46.6% won4.5% drawn48.9% lost

Theory 46.4% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 25M games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
3.Nc3
Analyze this line

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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
51.8%50.5%152K
50.2%48.8%553K
50.1%48.6%1.4M
49.8%48.1%2.7M
49.7%47.8%4.4M
49.4%47.2%5.8M
48.7%46.2%5.3M
47.2%44.3%3.9M
45.2%41.4%940K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What should Black play next?

By Floor, Black's best choice is 3…⁠d5, the Grünfeld Defense.

Is the King's Indian Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone48.9
Stockfish46.4

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 48.9 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

21st of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 56.3% · 1200–1399 ultrabulletWorst 38.2% · 2500+ rapid

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. –: too few to score. 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 King's Indian Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 105 King's Indian Defense lines, ranked

105 variations · ranked by floor

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

1
King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Exchange Variation34K games
53.1%Floor 52.6%
2
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Positional Defense, Closed Line163K games
52.2%Floor 52.0%
3
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Kavalek Defense63K games
51.3%Floor 51.0%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Pterodactyl Variation418 games
54.8%Floor 50.8%
King's Indian Defense: Larsen Variation345K games
50.9%Floor 50.8%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Lesser Simagin (Spassky)61K games
51.1%Floor 50.7%
King's Indian Defense: Santasiere Variation7.5K games
51.7%Floor 50.7%
King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Rare Defenses2.5M games
50.5%Floor 50.4%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Yugoslav Variation, Advance Line88K games
50.6%Floor 50.3%
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Panno Formation16K games
50.9%Floor 50.3%
King's Indian Defense: Zinnowitz Variation871K games
50.3%Floor 50.2%
King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation, Stein Defense106K games
50.4%Floor 50.1%
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Glek Defense70K games
50.3%Floor 50.0%
King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, King's Knight Variation1.8M games
49.9%Floor 49.9%
King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation, Spanish Defense3.3K games
51.3%Floor 49.9%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Larsen Defense66K games
50.1%Floor 49.8%
King's Indian Defense3.1M games
49.8%Floor 49.8%
King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Hollywood Variation183K games
49.9%Floor 49.7%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Panno Variation148K games
49.7%Floor 49.5%
King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation694K games
49.6%Floor 49.5%
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Panno Main Line18K games
49.9%Floor 49.3%
King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation2.7M games
49.1%Floor 49.1%
King's Indian Defense: Smyslov Variation1.3M games
49.2%Floor 49.1%
King's Indian Defense: Kazakh Variation43K games
49.5%Floor 49.1%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Classical Fianchetto252K games
49.3%Floor 49.1%
King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Benoni Variation120K games
49.2%Floor 49.0%
King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation, Normal Defense33K games
49.5%Floor 49.0%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Benjamin Defense16K games
49.6%Floor 49.0%
King's Indian Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Dynamic Attack350K games
49.0%Floor 48.9%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Yugoslav Variation, Rare Line56K games
49.2%Floor 48.9%
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Sämisch Gambit191K games
49.0%Floor 48.8%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Simagin Variation125K games
48.9%Floor 48.7%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Yugoslav System101K games
49.0%Floor 48.7%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Carlsbad Variation109K games
48.9%Floor 48.6%
King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation, Benoni Defense2.3K games
50.3%Floor 48.6%
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Aronin-Taimanov Defense154K games
48.8%Floor 48.6%
King's Indian Defense: Petrosian Variation69K games
48.8%Floor 48.5%
King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Deferred Fianchetto55K games
48.9%Floor 48.5%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Uhlmann-Szabo System322K games
48.6%Floor 48.5%
King's Indian Defense: Averbakh Variation, Modern Defense8.8K games
49.2%Floor 48.3%
King's Indian Defense: Accelerated Averbakh Variation368K games
48.5%Floor 48.3%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Debrecen Defense213K games
48.4%Floor 48.3%
King's Indian Defense: Makogonov Variation689K games
48.3%Floor 48.2%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Classical Variation135K games
48.4%Floor 48.2%
King's Indian Defense: Four Pawns Attack1.2M games
48.2%Floor 48.1%
King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto Variation, Immediate Fianchetto210K games
48.1%Floor 48.0%
King's Indian Defense: Semi-Classical Variation, Queenside Storm Line9.1K games
48.7%Floor 47.8%
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation, Donner Defense10K games
48.6%Floor 47.8%
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Normal Defense566K games
47.8%Floor 47.7%
King's Indian Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Normal Attack72K games
48.0%Floor 47.7%
Every King's Indian Defense variation, by name105
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the King's Indian Defense family scores 48.9% for Black, from 25M rated Lichess games across 105 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
25M 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.