Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense 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. 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 256 times by this move order. White won 49%, 9% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 6. O-O (85% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 6. O-O a6 7. b3 Nbd7 8. Bb2 Be7)
- ECO
- D26
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/4pn2/2p5/2BP4/4PN2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 40 | |
| 2000+ | 212 | |
| All | 256 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. O-O Classical Defense, Normal Line | 218 (85%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 20 (8%) | |
| 6. Qe2 | 8 (3%) | |
| 6. b3 | 5 (2%) | |
| 6. dxc5 | 2 (1%) | |
| 6. a3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 6. Bxe6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
169 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 28%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2766) – GM So, W. (2761) 1/2-1/2 · American Cup Champ · 2023-03-19
- GM Daniil Dubov (2714) – GM Levon Aronian (2782) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-11-11
- GM Daniil Dubov (2710) – GM So, W. (2753) 1/2-1/2 · Levitov Chess Week Rapid · 2023-09-23
- GM Daniil Dubov (2619) – GM Dmitry Kokarev (2621) 1-0 · 21st TCh-RUS 2014 · 2014-04-09
- GM Dariusz Swiercz (2633) – GM Bojan Vuckovic (2594) 1-0 · IsBank TCh-TUR 2013 · 2013-07-03
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gsg_1999 (2585) – FM Konnov_Oleg (2586) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- WOW_PEDRO (2561) – Surreptitiously421 (2610) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- FM Valery_Skatchkov2004 (2569) – Surreptitiously421 (2600) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation, Traditional System (4. e3 e6) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense, Normal Line D26 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical, Furman Variation D26 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. Qe2 a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O Nc6 9. e4 b5 10. 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, 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.