Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D31, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 6 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,248 times by this move order. White won 47%, 8% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (47% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bf5)

ECO: D31
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqk1nr/ppp1bppp/4p3/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 2 4
PGN: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	79	59%30%
1500-1999	477	46%49%
2000+	692	47%45%
All	1,248	47%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. Nf3	587 (47%)	48%45%
4. cxd5	315 (25%)	45%45%
4. Bf4	173 (14%)	49%46%
4. e3	56 (4%)	46%54%
4. e4	49 (4%)	59%35%
4. f3	18 (1%)	44%12%44%
4. a3	12 (1%)	50%42%
4. g3	12 (1%)	42%16%42%

Master games

5,960 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 29%, Black 29%). The strongest:

PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) – Torch 20260128-7136070b (3716) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-15
Torch 20260128-7136070b (3716) – PlentyChess 7.0.55 (3693) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-13
Ethereal 12.19 (3708) – rofChade 2.303 (3661) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-06
rofChade 2.303 (3661) – Ethereal 12.19 (3708) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-03
LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24

Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Mysterious_Spy (2790) – kuhmft (2839) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
BILLYS10 (2764) – GM tjychess (2845) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
NM Andrey11976 (2796) – tsnylsw (2747) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3

Continuations

Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation, Miladinovic Gambit D31 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. e4 dxe4 5. f3
Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Fianchetto Defense D37 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 b6
Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense (7. e3 Ne4) D56 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Uhlmann Variation D53 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. Rc1 dxc4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense, Exchange Variation D58 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. cxd5 exd5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense, Makogonov Exchange Variation D59 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. cxd5 Nxd5

More Queen's Gambit Declined lines (all)

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.