Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation, Main Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO D55, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. 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 33 times by this move order. White won 52%, 9% were drawn and Black won 39%. The most popular continuation is 7… b6 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.09 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 7… b6 8. Be2 Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5)
- ECO
- D55
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bpp1/4pn1p/3p4/2PP3B/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R2QKB1R b KQ - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 33 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… b6 Tartakower Defense (7. e3 b6) | 14 (42%) | |
| 7… Ne4 | 8 (24%) | |
| 7… Nbd7 | 5 (15%) | |
| 7… a6 | 4 (12%) | |
| 7… c5 | 1 (3%) | |
| 7… Re8 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
185 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 21%, draw 57%, Black 22%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2877) – GM Levon Aronian (2805) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Sinquefield Cup 2014 · 2014-09-05
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2769) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2843) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Norway Chess 2018 · 2018-06-01
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2785) – GM So, W. (2812) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Norway Chess 2017 · 2017-06-15
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2808) 1/2-1/2 · 42nd Olympiad 2016 · 2016-09-10
- GM Levon Aronian (2777) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2811) 1/2-1/2 · 4th Zurich CC Classical · 2015-02-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- WFM haski_2014 (2597) – alexlele2008 (2654) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- uzaya (2541) – Akula_Krakula (2630) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- playingentle (2520) – Akula_Krakula (2618) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (3… d5 4. Nc3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense (7. e3 b6) D58 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Teichmann Variation D56 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qc2
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.