Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation, Traditional System (4. e3 e6)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation, Traditional System is a chess opening classified as ECO D26, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 596 times by this move order. White won 52%, 7% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bxc4 (98% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. b3 Nbd7)
- ECO
- D26
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/8/2pP4/4PN2/PP3PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 65 | |
| 1500-1999 | 190 | |
| 2000+ | 341 | |
| All | 596 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bxc4 | 585 (98%) | |
| 5. Nc3 | 5 (1%) | |
| 5. a3 | 3 (1%) | |
| 5. Bd2 | 2 (0%) | |
| 5. Qa4+ | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,814 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 33%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- Fire 8_beta (3457) – Ethereal 12.43 (3470) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-25
- Ethereal 12.43 (3470) – Fire 8_beta (3457) 1-0 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-21
- GM Liren Ding (2799) – GM Levon Aronian (2782) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-12-06
- GM Quang Liem Le (2709) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) 1/2-1/2 · Airthings Masters KO 2022 · 2022-02-23
- GM Liren Ding (2799) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2765) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-11-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- tsunami10 (2799) – gagoteveyu (2756) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- FM Crew12 (2727) – gagoteveyu (2762) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- ScaryIndianJunior (2793) – Superstitions_Guy (2687) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation (3… Nf6 4. e3) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Classical Defense D26 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation, Traditional System (6. O-O a6) D26 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 Be7 6. O-O a6
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Normal Variation, Traditional System (6. O-O O-O) D26 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 Be7 6. O-O 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.