Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Two Knights Defense, Blockade Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Two Knights Defense, Blockade Line is a chess opening classified as ECO D37, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5. 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 3 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 7… Nh5 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 7… Nh5 8. b4 Nxf4 9. exf4 c6 10. Bd3)
- ECO
- D37
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pppnbppp/4pn2/2Pp4/3P1B2/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R2QKB1R b KQ - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Nh5 | 1 (33%) | |
| 7… b6 | 1 (33%) | |
| 7… Ne4 | 1 (33%) |
Master games
35 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 17%, draw 40%, Black 43%). The strongest:
- GM Valery Kazakouski (2577) – GM Michael Adams (2661) 0-1 · 45th Olympiad 2024 · 2024-09-19
- GM Dariusz Swiercz (2652) – GM Maiorov, N1. (2474) 1-0 · Chess.com RCC Wk18 Swiss · 2022-06-11
- GM Jan Markos (2590) – GM Robert Cvek (2520) 0-1 · TCh-SVK 2014-15 · 2014-11-23
- IM Harshavardhan G B (2397) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2641) 1-0 · Titled Arena Jan 2nd 2021 · 2021-01-02
- Xi, Qi. (2270) – GM Chithambaram VR. Aravindh (2641) 0-1 · RBI Open Qualifier 2 2020 · 2020-12-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- bbrelaunch (2401) – Suri_Berlin (2445) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- bbrelaunch (2389) – chafiche (2265) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- cinker (1662) – Kretaner (1698) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 3s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Normal Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
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.