Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense (2… Nc6 3. Nc3)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D07, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5,552 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3… dxc4 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 54; best line 3… e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e3)
- ECO
- D07
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/ppp1pppp/2n5/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,909 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,235 | |
| 2000+ | 408 | |
| All | 5,552 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… dxc4 Chigorin Defense (3. Nc3 dxc4) | 2,416 (44%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 1,601 (29%) | |
| 3… e6 | 822 (15%) | |
| 3… e5 Chigorin Defense, Tartakower Gambit | 289 (5%) | |
| 3… Bf5 | 266 (5%) | |
| 3… Be6 | 34 (1%) | |
| 3… Nxd4 | 32 (1%) | |
| 3… Nb4 | 22 (0%) |
Master games
548 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 20%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Levon Aronian (2795) – GM Richard Rapport (2730) 0-1 · 32nd ECC Open 2016 · 2016-11-08
- GM Yangyi Yu (2752) – GM Richard Rapport (2747) 0-1 · Saint Louis Rapid 2019 · 2019-08-10
- GM David Navara (2724) – GM Richard Rapport (2671) 1-0 · 48th Biel GM 2015 · 2015-07-22
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2643) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2702) 1/2-1/2 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2020-03-25
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2643) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2702) 1/2-1/2 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2020-03-25
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- tantgreta (2570) – IM Chigorinez (2710) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Soup_Maktavish_t (2624) – riga2024 (2567) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Nikolayi10 (2509) – ShadowNinja7i (2646) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense (2. c4 Nc6) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense (3. Nc3 dxc4) D07 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Tartakower Gambit D07 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5
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.