Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation (4. Bg5 h6)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 h6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D30, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 h6. 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 55 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bh4 (76% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 5. Bxf6 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Qxf6 7. Qa4+ Nc6)
- ECO
- D30
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2pp1/4pn1p/3p2B1/2PP4/5N2/PP2PPPP/RN1QKB1R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 h6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 29 | |
| 2000+ | 20 | |
| All | 55 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bh4 | 42 (76%) | |
| 5. Bxf6 | 13 (24%) |
Master games
227 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 32%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2754) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2857) 1-0 · chess.com SF Blitz 3m+2spm 2016 · 2016-08-23
- GM Richard Rapport (2760) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2792) 1/2-1/2 · 9th Norway Chess 2021 · 2021-09-16
- GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2783) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2740) 1/2-1/2 · TechM GCL 2024 · 2024-10-04
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2816) – GM Quang Liem Le (2697) 1-0 · Millionaire Chess KO 2015 · 2015-10-12
- GM David Navara (2737) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2773) 0-1 · Saint Louis Blitz 2017 · 2017-08-17
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Bayramogly1975 (2347) – eltrain1971 (2380) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Bayramogly1975 (2338) – GodInTheEndgame (2363) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Mendez1991 (2319) – bones0902 (2337) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Traditional Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5
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.