Openings · E12–E19

Queen's Indian Defence

3…b6 — a bishop on b7, a fight for the e4 square, and the standard answer to the move order that dodges the Nimzo.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6played as Black

The idea

White's 3.Nf3 is played to avoid 3.Nc3 Bb4. The Queen's Indian answers it by fighting for e4 with pieces instead of pawns: the bishop on b7, a knight that comes to e4, and often …Bb4+ inserted anyway once a knight appears on c3.

4.g3 is the main line, and it is a direct argument: White's bishop on g2 wants the same diagonal Black's does. 4…Ba6, hitting c4, is the modern answer — a provocation rather than a development.

Practise the line

You play Black; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 30/3

1.d4Nf6
2.c4e6
3.Nf3b6

White is answering…

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Letting e4 happen

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Qc2 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Bd3 O-O

The mistake: Answering 5.Nc3 with a quiet developing move and allowing e4 in one go.
Why it costs: e4 is the square the whole opening is about. Once the pawn is there, the bishop on b7 is looking at the back of it, White has the classical centre, and Black is playing a bad Old Indian with a wasted move on …b6.
Instead: 5…Bb4, pinning the knight that guards e4 — a Nimzo-Indian by transposition, which is what White was trying to avoid — or 5…d5.

Playing …Ba6 as a developing move

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7

The mistake: Putting the bishop on a6 and then wandering with it, as though the square were the point.
Why it costs: It is not a square, it is a question: hit c4 and White has to answer b3 or Nbd2, both of which are small concessions. The follow-up is the check on b4, forcing Bd2, and only then does the bishop go back to b7 having made White commit twice.
Instead: 4…Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 — the whole sequence, in that order. It looks like moving pieces about, and it is a series of provocations.

Shutting the bishop in with …d5

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 d5 8.cxd5 exd5

The mistake: Playing …d5 and recapturing with the e-pawn, so the bishop on b7 stares at a pawn on d5.
Why it costs: Two bishops sit on the same long diagonal, and after …exd5 only White's can see anything. The pawn on d5 is Black's own, and it will be there for a long time.
Instead: …Ne4 first, or recapture on d5 with the knight, or keep the pawn on d6 and play …c5. Whatever …d5 is met with, the bishop has to be part of the plan.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.