Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation (5. Bg5 c6)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D35, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6. 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 766 times by this move order. White won 52%, 8% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 6. e3 (75% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O)
- ECO
- D35
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/2p2n2/3p2B1/3P4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 16 | |
| 1500-1999 | 212 | |
| 2000+ | 538 | |
| All | 766 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. e3 | 572 (75%) | |
| 6. Qc2 Exchange Variation, Reshevsky Variation (5… c6 6. Qc2) | 116 (15%) | |
| 6. Nf3 | 59 (8%) | |
| 6. e4 | 10 (1%) | |
| 6. g3 | 2 (0%) | |
| 6. f3 | 2 (0%) | |
| 6. Bxf6 | 2 (0%) | |
| 6. Qd3 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
3,789 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 28%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- rofChade 2.321 (3467) – LCZero 0.29-dev+_781561 (3586) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-23
- LCZero 0.29-dev+_781561 (3586) – rofChade 2.321 (3467) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-20
- GM Erigaisi Arjun (2799) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2831) 0-1 · Tata Steel India Blitz · 2024-11-17
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) 1-0 · Legends of Chess Prelim · 2020-07-29
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Winners 2023 · 2023-07-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM ManiacalZerker (2793) – Sunrise34 (2857) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- FM Crew12 (2709) – FM Guary1 (2873) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- uSeRnAmEnOtAvAiL (2736) – oprahwindfury81 (2835) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation (4… exd5 5. Bg5) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Reshevsky Variation (5… c6 6. Qc2) D36 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. 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.