The Old Indian Defense is a
chess opening
The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...
defined by the moves:
:1.
d4 Nf6
:2.
c4 d6
This opening is distinguished from the
King's Indian Defense in that Black develops their on e7 rather than by
fianchetto on g7.
Mikhail Chigorin pioneered this defense late in his career.
The Old Indian is considered sound, though developing the bishop at e7 is less than the fianchetto, and it has never attained the popularity of the King's Indian. Some King's Indian players will use the Old Indian to avoid certain anti-King's Indian systems, such as the
Sämisch and
Averbakh Variations.
The opening is classified in the ''
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...
'' with the codes A53–A55.
Main line: 3.Nc3 e5
The Main line, also known as the Ukrainian Variation, arises after 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4; White can also play 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+, but despite the displacement of Black's king, this has long been known to offer no advantage, e.g. 5...Kxd8 6.Nf3 Nfd7, with Black often following up with some combination of ...c6, ...Kd8–c7, ...a5, ...Na6, and ...f6. Black's position is solid and their piece coordination is good; White's pawn exchange in the center has allowed Black equal and freed the f8-bishop. After 5...Be7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Re1 (or 8.Be3), White stands slightly better.
Janowski Variation: 3.Nc3 Bf5
The Janowski Variation, 3.Nc3 Bf5, was first introduced by
Dawid Janowski in the 1920s. The idea behind it is that 3...Bf5 prevents White from immediately grabbing space with 4.e4. The variation did not gain much popularity until the 1980s. Several top-level players have employed the line multiple times, including
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...
,
Bent Larsen,
Florin Gheorghiu, and
Kamran Shirazi.
3.Nf3
Or via the
transposition 2.Nf3 d6 3.c4. Now:
* 3...Bg4 (Tartakower-Indian Variation) is suggested by
de Firmian.
* 3...c6 (Czech Variation) and 3...Bf5 are possible.
* 3...g6 will likely transpose to the
King's Indian Defence.
* 3...Nbd7 4.Nc3 will likely transpose to the Main line.
See also
*
List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organised by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') code classification system. The chess openings are categorised into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken up into one hundred ...
Further reading
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Chess openings