Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Steinitz Variation, Exchange Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O cxd4
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Steinitz Variation, Exchange 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 cxd4. 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 18 times by this move order. White won 61%, 6% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 7. exd4 (83% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 7. exd4 Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Re1 Nc6)
- ECO
- D26
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/4pn2/8/2Bp4/4PN2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 18 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. exd4 | 15 (83%) | |
| 7. Nxd4 | 2 (11%) | |
| 7. Qe2 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
154 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 26%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2715) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2707) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-28
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2740) – GM David Paravyan (2620) 1-0 · World Rapid 2024 · 2024-12-26
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2660) – GM Nihal Sarin (2692) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-12
- GM Weiqi Zhou (2594) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2713) 1-0 · TCh-CHN 2018 · 2018-10-29
- GM Szymon Gumularz (2591) – GM Nihal Sarin (2692) 0-1 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CM Wild_of_luck (2559) – JoliyRoger (2455) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- ulfisawulf (2506) – goldking7 (2473) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- ROBISDIM (2476) – goldking7 (2468) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 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.