Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense (4… Nbd7 5. e3)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D51, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 620 times by this move order. White won 45%, 7% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 5… c6 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 5… h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. cxd5)
- ECO
- D51
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppn1ppp/4pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1P3/PP3PPP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 53 | |
| 1500-1999 | 369 | |
| 2000+ | 198 | |
| All | 620 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… c6 Modern Variation, Knight Defense (5. e3 c6) | 275 (44%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 228 (37%) | |
| 5… Bb4 Manhattan Variation | 57 (9%) | |
| 5… h6 | 31 (5%) | |
| 5… c5 | 12 (2%) | |
| 5… a6 | 6 (1%) | |
| 5… b6 | 5 (1%) | |
| 5… dxc4 | 3 (0%) |
Master games
219 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 25%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2792) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2757) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 9th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-09
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2722) – GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2641) 1-0 · 25th TCh-CRO Div 1a 2016 · 2016-10-10
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2732) – GM Martyn Kravtsiv (2598) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Nov Early · 2023-11-28
- GM Merab Gagunashvili (2584) – GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2642) 1/2-1/2 · European Hybrid Qual 2021 · 2021-05-27
- GM Merab Gagunashvili (2584) – GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2642) 1/2-1/2 · European Hybrid Qual 2021 · 2021-05-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM cutemouse83 (2939) – GM Fabsid (2826) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM cutemouse83 (2975) – GM Fabsid (2782) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- satlan (2676) – GM Fabsid (2811) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense (4. Bg5 Nbd7) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Manhattan Variation D51 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Bb4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense (5. e3 c6) D51 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 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: 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.