Indian Defense

The Indian Defense, also called the Indian Game, covers the openings that begin 1. d4 Nf6. The knight develops and prevents an immediate e4, but Black keeps every central pawn at home. That leaves open both a classical ...d5 and a hypermodern approach, in which White is allowed a broad pawn center that Black later attacks with pieces and pawn breaks. So many systems share this starting point that move orders and transpositions dominate the theory, and play can even return to 1...d5 openings such as the Queen's Gambit Declined or the Slav. The position is among the most frequently reached in the Lichess database. Results there are close to even, and engines rate it as roughly balanced.

2. c4 is the principal reply. It gains space and covers d5, with Nc3 and e4 in view. Black's most popular answer is 2...e6, which frees the king's bishop. After 2...e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 the game is a Nimzo-Indian. After 2...e6 3. Nf3, the Anti-Nimzo-Indian, Black can choose the Queen's Indian with 3...b6 or the Bogo-Indian with 3...Bb4+. 2...g6 prepares a kingside fianchetto and leads to the King's Indian or the Grünfeld. More confrontational choices are 2...c5, the Benoni, and the Budapest Gambit 2...e5. 2...d6 is the Old Indian.

Many players postpone c4. 2. Nf3, the Knights Variation, can still return to the 2. c4 systems, or White can steer towards London, Colle or Torre setups. Black has independent options here, such as the Spielmann-Indian 2...c5 and the Wade-Tartakower Defense 2...d6. 2. Bf4, the Accelerated London System, is very common online. It transposes to ordinary London structures after 2...d5, but Black can also meet it without ...d5. 2. Bg5, the Trompowsky Attack, threatens to take on f6 and double Black's pawns. 2. Nc3 prepares e4 and is usually met by 2...d5, when 3. Bg5 gives the Richter-Veresov Attack and 3. Bf4 the Jobava London.

Rarer tries include 2. g3, the Tartakower Attack, and the Canard Opening 2. f4. 2. e4, the Omega Gambit, simply gives up a pawn to 2...Nxe4. The Pawn Push Variation 2. d5 can be answered by 2...e6 3. dxe6 fxe6, which removes White's only central pawn.

The name is recorded from 1884 and refers to Moheschunder Bannerjee, whose games against John Cochrane used fianchetto setups. Tartakower popularized the term in the early 1920s, and the hypermodern school championed these systems. They gained general acceptance only in the late 1940s, when Russian players showed them to be sound.