Indian Defense: Normal Variation

A50

About this opening

You have both center pawns advanced and Black must choose a system. e6 is the most played reply here and it heads for the Nimzo-Indian or the Queen's Indian, keeping the position flexible and the structure sound. g6 prepares the King's Indian or the Grünfeld, where the bishop on g7 attacks your center from a distance. c5 is the Benoni, unbalancing immediately. d5 transposes to a Queen's Gambit structure. Look at the scores: Black does well across all of these, which is exactly why the Indian defenses replaced the older habit of meeting a queen's pawn opening head on with d5.

Plans

Play e6 and head for the Nimzo-Indian with a pin on c3.
Play g6 and attack the center from g7 instead of occupying it.
Play c5 to unbalance the structure immediately.
Delay the central pawn break until your pieces support it.

Where the pieces belong

Bishop: b4, pinning the knight that holds e4
Bishop: g7, striking at the center from the long diagonal
Pawn: d6, supporting an eventual e5 break
Knight: f6, already covering d5 and e4
Pawn: c5, hitting the base of the center

You take space, Black attacks it. The whole family of Indian defenses is built on letting the center exist and then undermining it, so watch every pawn break.