The King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation begins with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 c6 (ECO E88). With 98,476 games on record, the patterns below come from the largest practical sample available.
History and Notable Players
It arises from the King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation, Closed Variation. On the White side, Lev Polugaevsky (10 games), Rainer Knaak (9 games), Yuri S Razuvaev (9 games) top the database. Notable Black exponents: Svetozar Gligoric (17 games), Lothar Vogt (10 games), Vadim Milov (10 games).
Move Diversity and Theory Depth
Looking at move selection shows how forcing — or not — the position really is. At 1200 Elo (1,407 games), the top reply is Qd2, played 55.5% of the time. Two other moves each take at least 5% of games, and the top three moves account for 88.1% of games. Entropy: 2.01. By 2500 (755 games), Qd2 is still the top reply, at 44.9%; three other moves reach 5% and the top three moves account for 93.8% of games. Entropy drops to 1.65.
Main Lines and Variations
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 c6, the established follow-ups are:
Each branch leads to a different middlegame character — the resulting pawn structure decides what kind of game you get.
Common Mistakes
- Playing outside main lines — At 1000 Elo, only 80.3% of games stay with the three most-played moves; at 2000 that climbs to 91.7%. Most of the gap is players who pick a reasonable-looking move over the best one, and the position quietly drifts.
- Neglecting development — Extra pawn moves in the opening are tempting, especially when you "know the moves". Developing a piece each turn is the simple correction.
- Letting White own the centre — Hypermodern openings concede central space on purpose, but only if you strike back in time. Delay the counter-blow and you end up squeezed.
Practice on Chessiverse
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