Fianchetto Variation, Immediate Fianchetto

With 3. g3, White commits to the kingside fianchetto before developing either knight, rather than reaching the Fianchetto Variation through 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3. The bishop is headed for g2, where it presses along the long diagonal, and as in the parent line White can do without e4, which would blunt that bishop. Delaying Nf3 and Nc3 leaves White free to choose the knight setup later. Black, in turn, can pick a reply suited to this order.

Black most often answers 3...Bg7, after which the play usually merges with the familiar Fianchetto Variation lines once White develops the king's knight. The main alternative is 3...d5, striking at the center at once and steering the game into the Neo-Grünfeld Defense with g3. The rarer 3...d6 keeps to a pure King's Indian setup, though White has scored well against it in online games. Engines also suggest 3...c6 and 3...c5 as reasonable tries. The position is rated as roughly balanced, and White's results overall are slightly better than Black's.