Indian defences are chess openings characterised by the moves:
1. d4 Nf6 [1]
Transpositions are important and many of the positions can be reached by several move orders. They are all to varying degrees hypermodern defences, where Black invites White to establish an imposing presence in the centre with the plan of drawing it out, undermining it, and destroying it. Although Indian defences were championed in the 1920s by players in the hypermodern school, they were not fully accepted until Russian players showed in the late 1940s that these systems are sound for Black. Since then, Indian defences have been the most popular Black replies to 1.d4 because they offer an unbalanced game with chances for both sides.
