Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense (5. e3 Ne4)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Ne4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D53, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Ne4. 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 15 times by this move order. White won 53%, 27% were drawn and Black won 20%. The most popular continuation is 6. Bxe7 (93% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.45 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. cxd5 Nxc3 8. bxc3 exd5)
- ECO
- D53
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4p3/3p2B1/2PPn3/2N1P3/PP3PPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Ne4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 15 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Bxe7 | 14 (93%) | |
| 6. Nxe4 | 1 (7%) |
Master games
8 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 37%, Black 13%). The strongest:
- GM Alexey Sarana (2717) – CM Egor Baskakov (2215) 1-0 · Titled Tue 15th Oct Late · 2024-10-15
- GM Alexey Sarana (2713) – CM Egor Baskakov (2215) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Sep Late · 2024-09-03
- IM Balazs Csonka (2495) – CM Egor Baskakov (2215) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 20th Sep Early · 2022-09-20
- FM Joaquin Fiorito (2366) – CM Egor Baskakov (2215) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 4th Apr Late · 2023-04-04
- CM Ivan Povshednyi (2242) – CM Egor Baskakov (2215) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Jun Late · 2024-06-18
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- zygelis (2208) – yvuyguyuf89 (2339) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Denis_Tarasov (2161) – jorgepetruccialexand (2097) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Kenon3 (2145) – dimasik-dim (2071) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
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.