Bogo-Indian Defence

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
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a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8
a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6
a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3
a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1
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The Bogo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+.

The position arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 is common. The usual move for White here is 3.Nc3, threatening to set up a big pawn centre with 4.e4. 3.Nf3 is sometimes played instead as a way of avoiding the Nimzo-Indian Defence (which would follow after 3.Nc3 Bb4). After 3.Nf3, Black usually plays 3...b6 (the Queen's Indian Defence) or 3...d5 (leading to the Queen's Gambit Declined), but can instead play 3...Bb4+, the Bogo-Indian, named after Efim Bogoljubov. This opening is not so popular as the Queen's Indian, but is occasionally seen at all levels. It is a drawish opening.

[edit] Variations

White has five legal moves to meet the check, but only three of them are considered viable. Interposing the king's knight with 4. Nfd2 is weak, as it wastes time and needlessly brings a well-placed knight to a passive position. Interposing the queen with 4. Qd2?? is an obvious blunder, losing material.

  • 4. Bd2 is the most common, the bishop on b4 is now threatened and Black needs to decide what to do about it. The simplest is to simply trade off the bishop by means of 4...Bxd2+ but this line is not particularly popular. 4...Qe7 defending the bishop, and deferring the decision of what to do until later is the most common. David Bronstein tried the sharper alternative 4...a5 grabbing some space on the queenside at the cost of some structural weaknesses. A more modern line is 4...c5, after 5.Bxb4 cxb4, Black's pawns are doubled, and a pawn has been pulled away from the centre, but the b4 pawn can also be annoying for White since it takes the c3-square away from the knight. Simply retreating the bishop by means of 4...Be7 is also possible, the loss of tempo is not too serious since the development of the bishop to d2 is not the most active one possible.
  • 4. Nbd2 is an alternative aiming to acquire the bishop for the knight or forcing Black's bishop to retreat. The downside is that the knight is developed to a square where it blocks the bishop, and d2 is a less active square than c3.
  • 4. Nc3 is a transposition to the Kasparov Variation of the Nimzo-Indian.

[edit] ECO code

Unless the game transposes to another opening, the Bogo-Indian is classified as E11 by the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.

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