Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense (5. e3 c6)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6
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 c6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 275 times by this move order. White won 47%, 7% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nf3 (66% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bd3 Be7 8. Nf3 Ne4)
- ECO
- D51
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pp1n1ppp/2p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1P3/PP3PPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 9 | |
| 1500-1999 | 165 | |
| 2000+ | 101 | |
| All | 275 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nf3 | 182 (66%) | |
| 6. cxd5 | 34 (12%) | |
| 6. Bd3 | 21 (8%) | |
| 6. c5 | 13 (5%) | |
| 6. a3 Capablanca Variation, Anti-Cambridge Springs Variation | 8 (3%) | |
| 6. Qc2 | 7 (3%) | |
| 6. Rc1 | 3 (1%) | |
| 6. f4 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
215 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 29%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Fire 021819 (3752) – Ethereal 12.01 (3810) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-22
- Ethereal 12.01 (3810) – Fire 021819 (3752) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-03-20
- Ethereal 12.43 (3470) – AllieStein v0.8-120f959_net-15.0 (3536) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-23
- AllieStein v0.8-120f959_net-15.0 (3536) – Ethereal 12.43 (3470) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 19 Premier 2020 · 2020-09-19
- IM Alexey Reshetnikov (2492) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2646) 0-1 · Titled Tue 15th Jul Early · 2025-07-15
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… Nbd7 5. e3) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation, Anti-Cambridge Springs Variation D51 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. a3
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Capablanca Variation D52 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Nf3 Qa5 7. Bxf6
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Argentine Variation D52 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Nf3 Qa5 7. Nd2 Bb4 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Bh4
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.