The East Indian Defence is a
chess opening
A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defens ...
characterised by the moves:
:1.
d4 Nf6
:2.
Nf3 g6
Description
This opening has a close kinship to the more-common
King's Indian Defence
The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves:
:1. d4 Nf6
:2. c4 g6
Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is cons ...
and is often considered a variant thereof. The difference is that White has not yet played c4, and therefore retains some options.
If White plays an early c4, the opening will
transpose
In linear algebra, the transpose of a matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal;
that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other notations).
The tr ...
into a King's Indian. It is also possible for White to support an early e4 advance, transposing into the
Pirc Defence
The Pirc Defence (pronounced ) is a chess opening characterised by the response of Black to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish a with pawns on d4 and e4. It is named after the Slovenian ...
. Unless transposition is reached, there are four popular, independent continuations:
* 3.g3, the
Przepiórka Variation, closely related to the
Fianchetto Variation of the King's Indian
* 3.Bg5, a variant of the
Torre Attack
The Torre Attack is a chess opening characterized by the moves:
:1. d4 Nf6
:2. Nf3 e6
:3. Bg5 ('' ECO'' code A46)
or the Tartakower Variation in the Queen's Pawn Game (''ECO'' code D03):
:2... d5
:3. Bg5
or the Torre Attack in the East ...
* 3.Bf4, the
London System
The London System, also known as the Mason Variation, is an in chess where White opens with 1.d4 but does not play the Queen's Gambit, instead opting to rapidly develop the . This often results in a . The London System can be used against virt ...
* 3.Nc3, the Barry Attack
[Kenilworth Chess Club, http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kenilworthian/2005/11/barry-attack-bibliography.html]
The ''
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It is current ...
'' classifies the East Indian Defence under A49 for the Przepiórka Variation and A48 for the others.
3.g3
Black almost always plays 3...Bg7. White can play 4.c4 or 4.Bg2.
After 4.Bg2, Black can play ...0-0, ...d5, or ...d6. 4...d5 gives the Neo-Grunfeld Defence with 5.c4 or 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4. 4...d6 is the same as 4...0-0 with 5.c4 0-0 or 5.0-0 0-0.
After 4...0-0, White can play 5.c4 or 5.0-0.
With move 5.0-0, Black can play ...d6 or ...d5. 5...d5 gives the Neo-Grunfeld Defence after 6.c4.
With move 5...d6, White will usually play 6.c4 for the Fianchetto Variation, but other moves are possible.
Example game
Vasily Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...
vs.
Gyula Sax
Gyula Sax (18 June 1951 – 25 January 2014) was a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter (1995).
In 1972 he won the European Junior Chess Championship in Groningen. Sax was awarded the IM title in 1972 and the GM title i ...
, 1979
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.''Nc3'' Nbd7 7.e4 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.b3 b6 10.a4 Bb7 11.Nd2 Re8 12.Ba3 Bf8 13.Bxf8 Nxf8 14.Nc4 Ne6 15.Re1 Qd4 16.Nd5 Kg7 17.Qf3 Bxd5 18.exd5 e4 19.Qd1 Nxd5 20.Bxe4 Rad8 21.Bxd5 Qxd5 22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Rad1 Red8 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Kg2 Kf6 26.Ne3 Rd2 27.Ng4 Ke7 28.Ne3 Kd7 29.Rd1 Rxd1 30.Nxd1 Nd4 31.Ne3 Kd6 32.h4 Kc5 33.Kf1 Kb4 34.Ke1 Kc3 35.Kd1 c6 36.Kc1 Nf3 37.Nc4 f5 38.Nb2 f4 39.Nc4 Nd4 40.Ne5 fxg3 41.fxg3 c5 42.a5 Nxc2 43.axb6 axb6 44.Nd7 Nd4 45.Nxb6 Ne2 46.Kd1 Nxg3 47.Nd7 Kb4 48.Kc2 Nf5 49.Nf8 Nxh4 50.Nxh7 Nf5 51.Nf6 Nd4 52.Kd3 Kxb3 53.Nd7 Ne6 54.Ne5 g5
See also
*
List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organized by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () code. In 1966, Chess Informant categorized the chess openings into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken down into one hundred subca ...
*
List of chess openings named after places
Below is a list of chess openings named after places. ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' lists 1,327 named chess openings and variants. Many of them are named for geographic places.
A
*Aachen Gambit of the Nimzowitsch Defense 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3 ...
References
{{Reflist
Chess openings