Yugoslav Variation

The Yugoslav Variation arises when Black answers White's kingside fianchetto with a Slav-style formation, the pawns on d5 and c6, and puts the queen's bishop on g4 before any ...e6 can shut it in. This sidesteps the passive c8-bishop that burdens Black in the ...e6 structures of the King's Indian Attack. It also places immediate pressure on the f3-knight, while the c6-d5 chain gives Black a firm central base. The closely related 4...Bf5 instead produces a reversed London System.

White has three main ways to continue. The most popular, 5. d3, stays with the standard King's Indian Attack scheme and prepares Nbd2 and e4 behind the fianchetto. 5. d4 claims the center at once and gives the game a queen's pawn character. 5. c4 strikes directly at d5. Engines also rate 5. h3 highly, questioning the bishop before White commits in the center. The position is assessed as roughly balanced. In online games White scores somewhat better than Black, and the margin is similar after each of the three common fifth moves.