Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Defense, Alekhine Gambit
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Defense, Alekhine Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO D37, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 50%, 0% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 7. e3 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.31 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7. e3 c5 8. Bxc4 Be7 9. O-O O-O)
- ECO
- D37
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppn1pp1/4pn1p/8/2pP3B/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. e3 | 2 (100%) |
Master games
10 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 20%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Valentina Gunina (2431) – GM Yannick Pelletier (2581) 1-0 · Capechecs Online Trophy B · 2020-10-24
- Georgios Kanakaris (2335) – GM Mircea-Emilian Parligras (2596) 1/2-1/2 · 25th Kavala Open 2016 · 2016-07-31
- CM Eshaan Hebbar (2201) – GM Alan Pichot (2644) 0-1 · III Menorca Open 2024 · 2024-04-02
- IM Javier Aguera Naredo (2294) – GM Jan Subelj (2549) 0-1 · 27th Trieste Open 2025 · 2025-08-31
- IM Helmut Kummer (2212) – GM Dominik Horvath (2553) 0-1 · ch-AUT Blitz 2024 · 2024-06-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ton61820 (2509) – unBEARableBEAR (2558) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- BPOTW (2257) – Ajedrezoscuro1234 (2301) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 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.