Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D20, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,019 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4. d5 (66% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.46 (Stockfish, depth 57; best line 4. d5 e6 5. Bxc4 Nf6 6. Nc3 exd5)
- ECO
- D20
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp2pppp/8/2p5/2pPP3/8/PP3PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 437 | |
| 1500-1999 | 451 | |
| 2000+ | 131 | |
| All | 1,019 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. d5 | 674 (66%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 186 (18%) | |
| 4. Bxc4 | 108 (11%) | |
| 4. dxc5 | 19 (2%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 11 (1%) | |
| 4. Qa4+ | 10 (1%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 8 (1%) | |
| 4. g3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
191 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 24%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Yue Wang (2718) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2744) 1/2-1/2 · 41st Olympiad Open 2014 · 2014-08-11
- GM Boris Gelfand (2668) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2706) 1-0 · 36th Leon GM 2023 · 2023-07-08
- GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727) – GM Pavel Ponkratov (2641) 1-0 · Titled Tue 22nd Feb Early · 2022-02-22
- GM Mustafa Yilmaz (2626) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2691) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 · 2021-10-27
- GM S.P. Sethuraman (2624) – GM Tamir Nabaty (2658) 0-1 · FIDE World Cup 2019 · 2019-09-12
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SchhW (2579) – NM tufferguy (2725) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- LesleyUgochukwu (2510) – IM Jomajo (2661) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- LesleyUgochukwu (2504) – BurningPhil (2532) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Saduleto Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense, Yefimov Gambit D20 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. d5 b5
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Linares Variation D20 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. d5 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5
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, McDonnell Defense D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense, Somov Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Modern Defense 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
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Novikov 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.