Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D06, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 71,880 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nc3 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.52 (Stockfish, depth 57; best line 3. cxd5 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qa4+ c6)
- ECO
- D06
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 26,487 | |
| 1500-1999 | 40,681 | |
| 2000+ | 4,712 | |
| All | 71,880 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Nc3 | 35,699 (50%) | |
| 3. cxd5 | 16,130 (22%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 8,710 (12%) | |
| 3. e3 | 6,133 (9%) | |
| 3. Bg5 | 1,908 (3%) | |
| 3. Bf4 | 1,043 (1%) | |
| 3. c5 | 917 (1%) | |
| 3. g3 | 605 (1%) |
Master games
1,753 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 73%, draw 9%, Black 18%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-06
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-06
- Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) – LCZero 0.30-dag-bord-lf_784968 (3589) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
- LCZero 0.30-dag-bord-lf_784968 (3589) – Stockfish dev16_202209170930 (3611) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Premier 2022 · 2022-09-30
- StoofvleesII d2 (3479) – Stockfishdev-20240413-c55ae376 (3657) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-25
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Your_Waterloo (2686) – Laterchess (2544) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- h1b9932 (2599) – Yaponets (2586) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- IM elaniquilador (2575) – WFM haski_2014 (2574) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit 1. d4 d5 2. c4
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense, Tan Gambit D06 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. cxd5 c6
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: Zilbermints Gambit D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense (2. c4 Nc6) D07
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.