Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense, Somov Gambit
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Bxc4
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense, Somov Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO D20, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Bxc4. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 459 times by this move order. White won 49%, 3% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 4… exd4 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.46 (Stockfish, depth 37; best line 4… Qxd4 5. Qxd4 exd4 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bf4)
- ECO
- D20
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/4p3/2BPP3/8/PP3PPP/RNBQK1NR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Bxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 239 | |
| 1500-1999 | 185 | |
| 2000+ | 35 | |
| All | 459 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… exd4 | 262 (57%) | |
| 4… Qxd4 | 148 (32%) | |
| 4… Bb4+ | 20 (4%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 13 (3%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 4 (1%) | |
| 4… Be6 | 3 (1%) | |
| 4… f6 | 3 (1%) | |
| 4… Bd7 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
15 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 20%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2439) – IM Irine Kharisma Sukandar (2392) 1-0 · I'M Not A GM Speed Chess · 2022-06-06
- IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2439) – IM Irine Kharisma Sukandar (2392) 1/2-1/2 · I'M Not A GM Speed Chess · 2022-06-06
- FM Mariia Berdnyk (2324) – IM Julian Estrada Nieto (2280) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 22nd Sept · 2020-09-22
- FM Halldor Gretar Einarsson (2215) – WFM Nadya Toncheva (2321) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 15th Dec · 2020-12-15
- WIM Zala Urh (2156) – Kevin Yang (2275) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Aug 10am · 2020-08-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Lvictor (2450) – harrynga25 (2533) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- sacrificedthequeen_7 (2245) – Aljechin91 (2272) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
- roccodigianni (2235) – Miisuri (2210) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5
More Queen's Gambit Accepted lines (all)
- Queen's Gambit Accepted (2. c4 dxc4) D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Accelerated Mannheim Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Alekhine System D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Greco Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Modern Defense D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense, Yefimov Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Linares Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Billinger Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Christensen Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Korchnoi Gambit D20
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.