Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Sämisch Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Sämisch Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D35, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 9 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 6… c6 (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 6… Nb6 7. Qc2 c6 8. e3 Nh5 9. Be5)
- ECO
- D35
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppn1ppp/5n2/3p4/3P1B2/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bf4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 9 | |
| All | 9 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… c6 | 5 (56%) | |
| 6… Bb4 | 2 (22%) | |
| 6… Nb6 | 1 (11%) | |
| 6… a6 | 1 (11%) |
Master games
244 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 31%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Vincent Keymer (2776) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 6th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-06
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) – GM Levon Aronian (2792) 1-0 · GCT Rapid Paris 2016 · 2016-06-10
- GM Quang Liem Le (2728) – GM Levon Aronian (2775) 1/2-1/2 · FTX Crypto Cup 2022 · 2022-08-15
- GM Yangyi Yu (2704) – GM Liren Ding (2799) 0-1 · 12th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2021-09-23
- GM Gukesh D (2758) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2727) 1-0 · Tata Steel IND Blitz Open · 2023-09-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NM Andrey11976 (2813) – AnonymousBrownGuy (2729) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- oldandnotcold (2648) – Labourdonais (2488) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Neftegor (2456) – Turlov (2569) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7
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.