One of the perks of playing online, using my phone, is that the app automaticly tags whatever opening is played.
And I’ve come across some strange, but named variations over the years. Apparently many obscure lines exist.
One main opening I rarely come across is the Queen’s Indian Defense.
Anyway, I think this was the first time I’d played against the Queen’s Indian Accelerated.
The score isn’t worth posting, since he’d blundered his queen.
But out of curiosity, I was wondering if the QID, of any variation, is an uncommon defense, or is it more common than my experience.
The QID is generally considered to be the strongest defense after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3!? For many years, 3 Nf3 was thought to be somewhat wimpy as it permitted the QID. (3…b6 isn’t very playable after 3 Nc3 since White buries the Bishop with 4 e4). However, Kasparov played 3 Nf3 more often than 3 Nc3 against Karpov (in 1984, 1 loss, 1 win, a bunch of draws).
White can play 3. f3 and 4. e4, getting the kind of center he wants and neutralizing Black’s Queen’s Bishop if it ends up on b7. That is why Black usually plays 2 … e6 first.
A more interesting setup that could be called “Queen’s Indian Accelerated” is after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6, or 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6.
I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s probably just as strong as 3. … d5. Also 3. … Bb4+ and 3. … c5 are OK, but maybe slightly less popular at the GM level.
No one has ever figured out what Fischer had in mind after he played 2…b6 in one of his last tournaments.
Play went 4 f3! d5 . cxd5 Nxd5 6 Nxd Qxd5 7 e4 Qd7. He won but…