Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Exchange Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D07, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,831 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (52% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.41 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 4. e3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. a3 Bxc3+)
- ECO
- D07
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1b1kbnr/ppp1pppp/2n5/3q4/3P4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 917 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,588 | |
| 2000+ | 326 | |
| All | 2,831 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 1,470 (52%) | |
| 4. e3 | 702 (25%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 635 (22%) | |
| 4. e4 | 8 (0%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 6 (0%) | |
| 4. Qa4 | 5 (0%) | |
| 4. Qd2 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4. f4 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
602 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 15%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2766) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2710) 0-1 · IMSA Blitz 2016 · 2016-02-29
- GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2733) – GM Richard Rapport (2671) 1/2-1/2 · 48th Biel GM 2015 · 2015-07-20
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2728) – GM Naroditsky, D. (2621) 1-0 · Katara Bullet Final 2020 · 2020-08-26
- GM Bukavshin, I. (2618) – GM Richard Rapport (2709) 1-0 · Aeroflot Open A 2015 · 2015-04-01
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2803) – GM Thomas Beerdsen (2501) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Jan Early · 2025-01-07
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Robert_E2009 (2588) – IM Chigorinez (2719) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- SerHio1963 (2494) – riga2024 (2587) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- DeeplyEpicI (2497) – CM YuraGar (2573) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 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, Exchange Variation, Costa's Line D07 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. e3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 exd4 8. Ne2
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.