Queen's Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D31, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,842 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (35% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.33 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be6)
- ECO
- D31
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/1pp2ppp/p3p3/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 199 | |
| 1500-1999 | 976 | |
| 2000+ | 667 | |
| All | 1,842 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 646 (35%) | |
| 4. cxd5 | 573 (31%) | |
| 4. Bf4 | 171 (9%) | |
| 4. e3 | 149 (8%) | |
| 4. a4 | 93 (5%) | |
| 4. e4 | 89 (5%) | |
| 4. a3 | 39 (2%) | |
| 4. c5 | 25 (1%) |
Master games
4,444 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 24%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2799) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 1/2-1/2 · FTX Crypto Cup Prelim · 2021-05-24
- GM Levon Aronian (2784) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2851) 0-1 · 4th Norway Blitz 2016 · 2016-04-18
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2762) 1-0 · Meltwater Tour Final 2021 · 2021-09-26
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2762) 1-0 · Meltwater Tour Final 2021 · 2021-09-26
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2762) 1-0 · Meltwater Tour Final 2021 · 2021-09-26
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- elconceto (2826) – SexDrugsRnR (2574) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- anhbutk (2685) – TheorySpeedrun (2709) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2653) – TheorySpeedrun (2722) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3
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.