Indian Defence

Infobox chess opening

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moves = 1. d4 Nf6
ECO = A45-A79, D70-D99
birth =
nameorigin =
parentopening = Queen's Pawn Game
AKA =
chessgid = 11482&move=2&moves=d4.Nf6&nodes=10703.11482

Indian defenses are chess openings characterised by the moves::1.
Transpositions are important and many of the positions can be reached by several move orders. They are all to varying degrees hypermodern defenses, where Black invites White to establish an imposing presence in the centre with the plan of drawing it out, undermining it, and destroying it. Although Indian defenses were championed in the 1920s by players in the hypermodern school, they were not fully accepted until Soviet players showed in the late 1940s that these systems are sound for Black. Since then, Indian defenses have been the most popular Black replies to 1.d4 because they offer an unbalanced game with chances for both sides.

The Indian defenses are considered more ambitious and double-edged than the symmetrical reply 1...d5. In the Queen's Gambit Declined, Black accepts a cramped, passive position with the plan of gradually equalising and obtaining counterplay. In contrast, breaking symmetry on move one leads to rapid combat in the centre, where Black can obtain counterplay without necessarily equalising first.

The usual White second move is 2.c4, grabbing a larger share of the centre and allowing the move Nc3, to prepare for moving the e-pawn to e4 without blocking the c-pawn. Black's most popular replies are
*2...e6, freeing the king's bishop and leading into the Nimzo-Indian Defense, Queen's Indian Defense, Bogo-Indian Defense, Modern Benoni, or regular lines of the Queen's Gambit Declined,
*2... g6, preparing a fianchetto of the king's bishop and entering the King's Indian Defense or Grünfeld Defense, and
*2... c5, the Modern Benoni, with an immediate counter-punch in the centre,but other moves are played as detailed below.

Variations

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King's Indian DefenseChess diagram small|=
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Grünfeld DefenseChess diagram small|=
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Modern Benoni Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6 Accelerated Queen's Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 Benoni Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 Benko Gambit (or Volga Gambit)
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c6 Slav-Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 Black Knights' Tango
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 Old Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 Janowski Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 Budapest Gambit
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Nimzo-Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Modern Benoni
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ Bogo-Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b5 Polish Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 Queen's Indian Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 Blumenfeld Gambit
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Ne4 Döry Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5 Neo-Indian Attack
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Catalan Opening
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 Grünfeld Defense
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 King's Indian Defense (KID)
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 Torre Attack
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 Barry Attack
* 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Trompowski Attack

Advocated by Nimzowitsch as early as 1913, the Nimzo-Indian Defense was the first of the Indian systems to gain full acceptance. It remains one of the most popular and well-respected defenses to 1.d4, and White often chooses move orders designed to avoid it. Black attacks the centre with pieces and is prepared to trade a bishop for a knight to weaken White's queenside with doubled pawns.

The King's Indian Defense is aggressive and somewhat risky, and generally indicates that Black will not be satisfied with a draw. Although it was played occasionally as early as the late 19th century, the King's Indian was considered inferior until the 1940s when it was featured in the games of Bronstein, Boleslavsky, and Reshevsky. Fischer's favoured defense to 1.d4, its popularity faded in the mid-1970s. Kasparov's successes with the defense restored the King's Indian to prominence in the 1980s.

Ernst Grünfeld debuted the Grünfeld Defense in 1922. Distinguished by the move 3...d5, Grünfeld intended it as an improvement to the King's Indian which was not considered entirely satisfactory at that time. The Grünfeld has been adopted by World Champions Smyslov, Fischer, and Kasparov.

The Queen's Indian Defense is considered solid, safe, and perhaps somewhat drawish. Black often chooses the Queen's Indian when White avoids the Nimzo-Indian by playing 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3. Black constructs a sound position that makes no positional concessions, although sometimes it is difficult for Black to obtain good winning chances. Karpov is a leading expert in this opening.

The Modern Benoni Defense is a risky attempt by Black to unbalance the position and gain active piece play at the cost of allowing White a pawn wedge at d5 and a central majority. Tal popularised the defense in the 1960s by winning several brilliant games with it, and Bobby Fischer occasionally adopted it, with good results, including a win in his 1972 World Championship match against Boris Spassky.Often Black adopts a slightly different move order, playing 2...e6 before 3...c5 in order to avoid the sharpest lines for White.

The Benko Gambit is often played by strong players, and is very popular at lower levels.Black plays to open lines on the queenside where White will be subject to considerable pressure.If White accepts the gambit, Black's compensation is positional rather than tactical, and his initiative can last even after many piece exchanges and well into the endgame.White often chooses instead either to decline the gambit pawn or return it.

The Bogo-Indian Defense is a solid alternative to the Queen's Indian, into which it sometimes transposes. It is less popular than that opening, however, perhaps because many players are loath to surrender the bishop pair (particularly without doubling White's pawns), as Black often ends up doing after 4.Nbd2. The classical 4.Bd2 Qe7 is also often seen, although more recently 4...a5!? and even 4...c5!? have emerged as alternatives. Transposition to the Nimzo-Indian with 4.Nc3 is perfectly playable but rarely seen, since most players who play 3.Nf3 do so in order to avoid that opening.

The Old Indian Defense was introduced by Tarrasch in 1902, but it is more commonly associated with Chigorin who adopted it five years later. It is similar to the King's Indian in that both feature a ...d6 and ...e5 pawn centre, but in the Old Indian Black's king bishop is developed to e7 rather than being fianchettoed on g7. The Old Indian is solid, but Black's position is usually cramped and it lacks the dynamic possibilities found in the King's Indian.

The Catalan Opening is characterised by White forming a pawn centre at d4 and c4 and fianchettoing his king's bishop.It resembles a combination of the Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening.Since the Catalan can be reached from many different move orders, (one QGD-like move sequence is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3), it is sometimes called the Catalan System.

The Black Knights' Tango or Mexican Defense introduced by Carlos Torre in 1925 in Baden Baden shares similarities with Alekhine's Defense as Black attempts to induce a premature advance of the white pawns.It may transpose into many other defenses.

The Neo-Indian Attack, Torre Attack, and Trompowski Attack are White anti-Indian variations.Related to the Richter-Veresov Attack, they feature an early Bg5 by White and avoid much of the detailed theory of other queen's pawn openings. Another option is the Barry Attack, popular with club players and characterised by the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 Bg7 5.e3 O-O 6. Be2. White usually follows up with Ne5 and h2-h4-h5, a direct attack on the Black king. The Barry Attack has also been tried out at Grandmaster level by Mark Hebden and Julian Hodgson.

The Blumenfeld Gambit (or Countergambit) bears a superficial but misleading resemblance to the Benko Gambit, as Black's goals are very different.Black gambits a wing pawn in an attempt to build a strong centre.White can either accept the gambit or decline it to maintain a small positional advantage.Although the Blumenfeld is playable for Black it is not very popular.

The Döry Defense is uncommon, but it was sometimes adopted by Keres.It will sometimes transpose into a variation of the Queen's Indian Defense but there are also independent lines.

The Accelerated Queen's Indian Defense (2...b6) is playable, although modern theory favours the Queen's Indian only after 2...e6 3 Nf3.

The Slav-Indian Defense is an obscure idea that may transpose into the King's Indian or Slav Defense.

The Budapest Gambit is rarely played in grandmaster games, but more often adopted by amateurs. Although it is a gambit, White cannot hold on to his extra pawn without making compromises in the deployment of his pieces, so he often chooses to return the pawn and retain the initiative.

Historical background

The earliest known use of "Indian Defense" was in 1884, and the name was attibuted to the opening's use by the Indian player Moheschunder Bannerjee against John Cochrane. [ cite journal
journal=Chess Player’s Chronicle | date=22 October 1884 | title = Indian Defense
url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/earliest.html | accessdate=2008-07-22 | pages=p. 172 In this case the opening moves were 1 e4 d6 2 d4 g6]

References

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*citation | last1=Hooper | first1=David |authorlink1 =David Vincent Hooper| last2=Whyld | first2=Kenneth | authorlink2=Kenneth Whyld | title=The Oxford Companion to Chess | publisher=Oxford University | year=1996 | id=ISBN 0-19-280049-3
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