Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Steinitz Variation, Development Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O Nc6
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Steinitz Variation, Development Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D26, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O Nc6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 61 times by this move order. White won 48%, 11% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nc3 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.31 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 7. Nc3 a6 8. d5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5)
- ECO
- D26
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp3ppp/2n1pn2/2p5/2BP4/4PN2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 2 7- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 15 | |
| 2000+ | 46 | |
| All | 61 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nc3 | 28 (46%) | |
| 7. Qe2 | 14 (23%) | |
| 7. dxc5 | 8 (13%) | |
| 7. a3 | 4 (7%) | |
| 7. b3 | 2 (3%) | |
| 7. Bb3 | 1 (2%) | |
| 7. Nbd2 | 1 (2%) | |
| 7. Be2 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
589 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 34%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2812) – GM Yi Wei (2737) 1-0 · TCh-CHN 2019 · 2019-07-25
- GM Anish Giri (2764) – GM Hao Wang (2763) 1-0 · 11th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2020-12-07
- GM So, W. (2771) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2745) 1/2-1/2 · 9th Sinquefield Cup 2022 · 2022-09-11
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2745) 1-0 · CGC KO 2022 · 2022-10-03
- GM Liren Ding (2799) – GM Jorden Van Foreest (2714) 1-0 · Charity Cup KO 2022 · 2022-03-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gsg_1999 (2585) – FM Konnov_Oleg (2586) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Gromphawk (2498) – Rimigug (2493) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- KingChessT007 (2507) – Rimigug (2466) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Normal Line 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O
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: 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
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.