Queen's Indian Defense

4. QID with 8.Bd2 and the Dutch-style 8...f5

Building an impassable wall on e4 that paralyzes White's attacking ambitions.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 f5 9.d5 Bf6 10.Rc1 Na6 11.a3 Nac5 12.b4 Nxc3

Move by move

  1. 1.d4 – White occupies the center with the d-pawn, protected by the queen, and frees the c1 bishop. This is the move that starts Queen's Gambit, Catalan and Nimzo-Indian games.
  2. 1...Nf6 – Black develops the knight toward the center and immediately prevents 2.e4. With Nf6 Black stays flexible: he can choose between the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, King's Indian or the Queen's Gambit Declined.
  3. 2.c4 – White gains space on the queenside and attacks the d5 square from a distance. White now threatens Nc3 and e4 to build a big pawn center.
  4. 2...e6 – Black opens the diagonal for the f8 bishop and prepares both d5 and Bb4. Compared with 2...d5, Black stays elastic: he waits to see whether White plays Nc3, which allows the Nimzo-Indian.
  5. 3.Nf3 – White develops the kingside knight instead of Nc3 and avoids the Nimzo-Indian: without the knight on c3, ...Bb4 can't pin anything, but White controls e4 less.
  6. 3...b6 – The Queen's Indian Defense: Black prepares Bb7 or Ba6 to control e4 and the light squares. Without a knight on c3, ...Bb4 would have no pin.
  7. 4.g3 – White prepares the fianchetto to oppose Black's bishop on the long diagonal. However, the f1 bishop will no longer defend the c4 pawn.
  8. 4...Bb7 – The bishop goes to the long diagonal, where it will oppose the g2 bishop and control e4. It's the classical line of the Queen's Indian.
  9. 5.Bg2 – White completes the fianchetto: the two bishops face each other on the long diagonal. White prepares castling and Nc3.
  10. 5...Be7 – Black develops the bishop to e7 and prepares castling. It's the most solid choice: the bishop defends f6 and doesn't commit to ...Bb4+, which without a knight on c3 wouldn't pin anything.
  11. 6.O-O – White castles and puts the king safe. He now prepares Nc3 to control e4 and d5.
  12. 6...O-O – Black castles and completes the kingside development. The fight is now over the e4 square.
  13. 7.Nc3 – White develops the knight toward e4 and d5: he threatens Qc2 and e4 to take the center.
  14. 7...Ne4 – The knight occupies e4 before White plays Qc2 and e4. Black offers to trade knights to lighten the position and control e4.
  15. 8.Bd2 – White defends the c3 knight with the bishop and leaves Black's knight on e4. If Black exchanges on d2, White recaptures with the queen and keeps a good structure.
  16. 8...f5 – Black supports the e4 knight with the f-pawn, Dutch style. The knight is now hard to chase away and Black firmly controls e4.
  17. 9.d5 – White pushes d5 to close the b7 bishop's diagonal and gain space. The d5 pawn now has to be supported by the c4 pawn and the c3 knight.
  18. 9...Bf6 – The bishop goes to f6 on the long diagonal and attacks the c3 knight together with the e4 knight. White has to defend c3 once more.
  19. 10.Rc1 – The rook defends the c3 knight and gets ready for the c-file. White keeps the c3 knight to support d5.
  20. 10...Na6 – The knight develops to a6 to go to c5, from where it attacks d3 and b3 and supports the e4 knight. On d7 it would have been less active.
  21. 11.a3 – White prepares b4 to chase away the knight that will arrive on c5. The a3 pawn also controls b4.
  22. 11...Nac5 – The knight arrives on c5 and increases control of the center. Black knows b4 will chase it away, but prepares a reply with ...Nxc3.
  23. 12.b4 – White attacks the c5 knight with the b-pawn and gains space on the queenside. Black replies with an intermediate exchange before moving the knight.
  24. 12...Nxc3 – Black exchanges on c3 before retreating the c5 knight: this removes a defender of d5 and, after the recapture, the c5 knight will return to e4.

How to exploit the position

After 13.Bxc3 or 13.Rxc3 Black has to move the c5 knight, attacked by the b4 pawn: it usually returns to e4, supported by f5. The position is balanced and full of tension.

Master tips

The intermediate exchange on c3

When b4 attacks the c5 knight, Black shouldn't retreat it right away.

Model games