Queen Pawn Openings: The Indian Defenses

The name for this group of chess openings was derived from the game that was played in India, which doesn't afford the player the opportunity to move the Pawn over two squares. Some players have attributed a certain form of sluggishness to that mode of play. The whole complex of the Indian Defenses starts with 1 P - Q4, Kt - KB3.

It can be observed that Queen pawn openings where Black does not reply with a P - Q4 move can be classed as one of the most difficult of the openings to understand. If we check the records, we can find that even chess masters committing positional errors when encountering Queen Pawn openings that doesn't get a P - Q4 reply.

There are three strategic questions that lead us to the principles of such openings, which the Indian Defenses are included. First question is if it would be possible for White to establish a Pawn center? The candidate Pawns to establish such a center would be positioned on K4, Q4, and QB4.

The second question is that if White does succeed in establishing that center then is it possible to maintain these positions? This takes into account the fundamental principle behind Pawn centers, which cramps your opponent's position on the board. Third question, since Black starts the game by not building a center, is there a way for Black to get away with it?

The family of Indian Defenses would start uniformly with the first few moves and then variations would arise, usually, on Black's second reply. The Indian Defenses would typically go as:

1 P - Q4, Kt - KB3 2 P - QB4, then variations usually follow from here.

The Nimzoindian-Queen Indian Complex would have Black reply to White's second move as 2 ... P - K3. With the Nimzoindian line continuing as 3 Kt - QB3, B - Kt5. The Queen's Indian variation would proceed from 3 Kt - KB3, P - QKt3. The Bogoljuboff Variation continues at 3 ... B - Kt5ch. The Blumenfeld Counter Gambit follows through with 3 ... P - B4; 4 P - Q5, P - QKt4.

The King's Indian Gruenfeld Complex has Black replying by 2 ... P - KKt3. The rest of this family includes the King Indian (3 Kt - QB3, B - Kt2; 4 P - K4), Gruenfeld (3 Kt - QB3, P - Q4), Indian with delayed P - Q4 (3 Kt - KB3, P - Q4), and other variations that may transpose to lines like that in the Slav Defense.

The Old Indian defenses would have 2 ... P - Q3. Included in this branch are Indian or Tchigorin (3 Kt - QB3, P - K4), King's Indian with a variation of the Ruy Lopez (3 Kt - KB3, P - KKt3; 4 P - K4).

Answering the strategic questions leads one to the principles behind the Indian Defenses. We advise beginners to take some added time studying this whole family of chess openings.