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
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense 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. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. 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 83 times by this move order. White won 43%, 9% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nd2 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.15 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qd2 c5 9. Rc1 Nxc3)
- ECO
- D52
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1b1kb1r/pp1n1ppp/2p1pn2/q2p2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 28 | |
| 2000+ | 54 | |
| All | 83 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nd2 | 30 (36%) | |
| 7. Bxf6 | 17 (20%) | |
| 7. cxd5 Cambridge Springs Defense (6… Qa5 7. cxd5) | 16 (19%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 5 (6%) | |
| 7. Qc2 | 4 (5%) | |
| 7. c5 | 3 (4%) | |
| 7. a3 | 2 (2%) | |
| 7. Be2 | 2 (2%) |
Master games
138 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 27%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2803) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2757) 0-1 · SportAccord Basque Men 2013 · 2013-12-18
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2777) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2716) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters GpA · 2020-06-20
- GM Daniil Dubov (2699) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2716) 1-0 · Chessable Masters GpA · 2020-06-22
- GM Alexander Khalifman (2614) – GM Aleksey Dreev (2654) 1/2-1/2 · 14th Euro Indiv 2013 · 2013-05-10
- GM Ivan Cheparinov (2659) – GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili (2596) 1-0 · TCh-ESP Rapid 2021 · 2021-10-09
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- RadioJoy (2598) – LTL_0880 (2547) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Vigolenso (2568) – LTL_0880 (2539) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- GM Enialios (2657) – Lvictor (2448) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined (5… Nbd7 6. e3) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense (6… Qa5 7. cxd5) D52 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. cxd5
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Rubinstein Variation D52 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 dxc4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Bogoljubow Variation D52 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 Qa5 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Qc2
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.