King’s Indian Defence At No.1 Chess Opening

15 Nov 2012, Kuala Lumpur – Based on the trends of chess openings as played by international masters and grandmasters in September 2012 as researched by Chess magazine November 2012, the following are the top twenty chess openings:-

Ranking Number	Chess Opening	Number of games
1	King’s Indian Defence	129
2	Slav Defence	122
3	Nimzo Indian Defence	108
4	Caro-Kann Defence	89
5	Reti Opening	82
6	Sicilian, Najdorf Variation	68
7	Grunfeld, Classical Variation	67
8	Semi-Slav Defence	64
9	Queen’s Gambit Declined	62
10	Sicilian, Kan Variation	58
11	English, 1 c4 Nf6	55
12	English, 1 c4 e5	55
13	Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence	52
14	English, 1 c4 c5	50
15	Queen’s Indian Defence	50
16	Queen’s Pawn, 1 d4 Nf6	49
17	Sicilian, 2 Nf3 d6 sidelines	45
18	English, 1 c4 e6	41
19	French, Tarrasch Variation	41
20	Sicilian, 2 Nf3 deviations	39

(source: Chess Magazine, Volume 77 No.8 November 2012)