Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Rubinstein Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Rubinstein Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D52, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10 times by this move order. White won 50%, 10% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 8. Bxf6 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.26 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Rc1 Bd6)
- ECO
- D52
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1b1kb1r/pp1n1ppp/2p1pn2/q5B1/2pP4/2N1P3/PP1N1PPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Bxf6 | 10 (100%) |
Master games
116 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2777) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2757) 1/2-1/2 · Speed Chess Invitational · 2020-10-25
- GM Liren Ding (2811) – GM Sam Shankland (2705) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-09-03
- GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2707) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2729) 1/2-1/2 · IMSA World Masters Blitz · 2019-05-18
- GM Nihal Sarin (2620) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2784) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2020 · 2020-11-01
- GM Nihal Sarin (2620) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2784) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2020 · 2020-11-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM Enialios (2657) – Lvictor (2448) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- FM avatar0107 (2598) – Wyssegga (2425) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- DVlad (2374) – VESNA67 (2399) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense (6. e3 Qa5) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5
More Queen's Gambit Declined lines (all)
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Pseudo-Slav D02
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Attack, Salvio Countergambit D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Defense D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Defense, Gusev Countergambit D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Defense, Haberditz Variation D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Argentinian Gambit D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Pseudo-Chigorin D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Queen Attack D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Queen Attack Deferred D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense, Tan Gambit D06
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.