diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index 2e155a7a92069..68845ec0306e8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalArgumentException;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalStateException;
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.WriteFailureException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.flush.FlushRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.optimize.OptimizeRequest;
@@ -56,6 +57,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRefCounted;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.FutureUtils;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.VersionType;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.aliases.IndexAliasesService;
@@ -87,6 +90,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.percolator.PercolatorQueriesRegistry;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.percolator.stats.ShardPercolateService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.IndexQueryParserService;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.ParsedQuery;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryParsingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.recovery.RecoveryStats;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.refresh.RefreshStats;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.search.nested.NonNestedDocsFilter;
@@ -540,7 +545,24 @@ public Engine.DeleteByQuery prepareDeleteByQuery(BytesReference source, @Nullabl
         if (types == null) {
             types = Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY;
         }
-        Query query = queryParserService.parseQuery(source).query();
+        Query query;
+        try {
+            query = queryParserService.parseQuery(source).query();
+        } catch (QueryParsingException ex) {
+            // for BWC we try to parse directly the query since pre 1.0.0.Beta2 we didn't require a top level query field
+            if (Version.indexCreated(config.getIndexSettings()).onOrBefore(Version.V_1_0_0_Beta2)) {
+                try {
+                    XContentParser parser = XContentHelper.createParser(source);
+                    ParsedQuery parse = queryParserService.parse(parser);
+                    query = parse.query();
+                } catch (Throwable t) {
+                    ex.addSuppressed(t);
+                    throw ex;
+                }
+            } else {
+                throw ex;
+            }
+        }
         query = filterQueryIfNeeded(query, types);
 
         Filter aliasFilter = indexAliasesService.aliasFilter(filteringAliases);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index bb6fdab587b3d..6eed282df1e11 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -19,10 +19,15 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.index.shard;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalArgumentException;
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.stats.IndexStats;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.engine.Engine;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryParsingException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.Translog;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -116,4 +121,32 @@ public void run() {
         assertNotNull(indexStats.getShards()[0].getCommitStats().getUserData().get(Engine.SYNC_COMMIT_ID));
     }
 
+    public void testDeleteByQueryBWC() {
+        Version version = randomVersion();
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("test")
+                .setSettings(SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1, SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0, IndexMetaData.SETTING_VERSION_CREATED, version.id));
+        ensureGreen("test");
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "person").setSource("{ \"user\" : \"kimchy\" }").get();
+
+        IndicesService indicesService = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        IndexService test = indicesService.indexService("test");
+        IndexShard shard = test.shard(0);
+        int numDocs = 1;
+        shard.state = IndexShardState.RECOVERING;
+        try {
+            shard.performRecoveryOperation(new Translog.DeleteByQuery(new Engine.DeleteByQuery(null, new BytesArray("{\"term\" : { \"user\" : \"kimchy\" }}"), null, null, null, Engine.Operation.Origin.RECOVERY, 0, "person")));
+            assertTrue(version.onOrBefore(Version.V_1_0_0_Beta2));
+            numDocs = 0;
+        } catch (QueryParsingException ex) {
+            assertTrue(version.after(Version.V_1_0_0_Beta2));
+        } finally {
+            shard.state = IndexShardState.STARTED;
+        }
+        shard.engine().refresh("foo");
+
+        try (Engine.Searcher searcher = shard.engine().acquireSearcher("foo")) {
+            assertEquals(numDocs, searcher.reader().numDocs());
+        }
+    }
+
 }