Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation (5… O-O 6. Rc1)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D54, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 13 times by this move order. White won 38%, 8% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 6… h6 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 37; best line 6… dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. Nf3 cxd4 9. Nxd4)
- ECO
- D54
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1P3/PP3PPP/2RQKBNR b K - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Rc1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 9 | |
| All | 13 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… h6 | 4 (31%) | |
| 6… c6 | 4 (31%) | |
| 6… b6 | 2 (15%) | |
| 6… c5 | 1 (8%) | |
| 6… a6 | 1 (8%) | |
| 6… Nbd7 | 1 (8%) |
Master games
39 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 36%, Black 15%). The strongest:
- GM Sam Shankland (2710) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2713) 1-0 · World Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-29
- GM Jorge Cori (2657) – GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista (2660) 1/2-1/2 · SPICE Cup Open 2017 · 2017-10-26
- GM Sam Shankland (2711) – GM Semen Khanin (2566) 1-0 · ChessKid Cup Play-In · 2023-05-01
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) – GM Visakh N R (2516) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 16th Feb · 2021-02-16
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2656) – GM Mamikon Gharibyan (2485) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-30
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Rudi128 (2378) – NM Davideplayer (2455) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Doublebroth (2308) – HomelessWizard (2344) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
- Doublebroth (2298) – Bfgry (2226) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 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.