Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Russian Variation

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qc2 Nf6 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rfd1 Bd7

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Russian Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D56, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qc2 Nf6 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rfd1 Bd7. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 26; best line 14. dxc5 Qxc5 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Rfd8)

ECO

D56

Moves

26 plies

FEN

r4rk1/pp1bqpp1/2n1pn1p/2p5/2BP4/2N1PN2/PPQ2PPP/R2R2K1 w - - 4 14

PGN

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qc2 Nf6 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rfd1 Bd7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

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.