Queen's Indian Defense
also known as: QID
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
Named after
The queenside sibling of the King's Indian — same Indian fianchetto heritage, opposite wing.
Origin
Systematized by Nimzowitsch and the hypermoderns in the 1920s as the companion to the Nimzo-Indian when White plays 3.Nf3.
The story
When White dodges the Nimzo-Indian pin with 3.Nf3, Black fianchettoes the OTHER bishop: ...b6 and ...Bb7 train x-ray fire on e4, continuing the same hypermodern argument — the center will be controlled from a distance, occupied only when convenient. For decades the QID was the twin pillar (with the Nimzo) of "correct" chess: Karpov wielded it like a scalpel, and the Kasparov–Karpov matches gave it some of its deepest pages. Petrosian's 4.a3 — a "beginner's move" spending a whole tempo to stop a pin — becoming the critical main line is one of theory's best jokes.
Why it matters
The solid half of the Nimzo/QID repertoire that has anchored Black's classical play against 1.d4 for a century. Its light-square strategy — b7-bishop versus White's e4 ambitions — is a running seminar in piece-pressure over pawn-occupation.
Notable games
- Karpov's QID model games of the 1970s–80s
- Kasparov–Karpov, WCh 1984–85 (QID battles across the two matches)