About this opening
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation, Stahlberg Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code E23. ECO group E (E00–E99)
covers Indian defences against 1.d4, covering the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, King's Indian and Catalan systems. This particular variation is reached
after 14 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qb3 c5 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Nf3 Ne4 7. Bd2 Nxc5.
It belongs to the Nimzo-Indian Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Spielmann Variation → Stahlberg Variation line). The immediate parent line is Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation, transitioned via 7…Nxc5.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.d4 Nf6, 2.c4 e6, 3.Nc3 Bb4, 4.Qb3 c5, 5.dxc5 Nc6, 6.Nf3 Ne4. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of E23 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.