Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D35, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 10 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 42,969 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bg5 (34% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 h6)

ECO: D35
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 2 4
PGN: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	7,332	50%46%
1500-1999	25,630	51%44%
2000+	10,007	50%43%
All	42,969	50%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. Bg5 Modern Variation	14,523 (34%)	50%45%
4. Nf3	12,506 (29%)	51%44%
4. cxd5	7,817 (18%)	52%42%
4. e3	2,917 (7%)	47%48%
4. Bf4 Harrwitz Attack (3… Nf6 4. Bf4)	2,793 (7%)	50%45%
4. a3	760 (2%)	51%44%
4. f3	531 (1%)	51%45%
4. g3	387 (1%)	50%44%

Master games

22,407 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 24%, Black 27%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-02
Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-02
KomodoDragon 2894.00 (3600) – Stockfish dev15_20220401 (3617) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-04-11

Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense and its sub-variations

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
NM Andrey11976 (2806) – winx_m (2944) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3

Continuations

Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack (3… Nf6 4. Bf4) D35 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bf4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation D50 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation (4… c5 5. Bg5) D40 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (5. e3 O-O) D37 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. e3 O-O
Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Orthodox Defense D37 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c6
Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation (7. Nf3 c6) D35 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 Be7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Nf3 c6
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense (7. exd4 Bd6) D40 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. a3 cxd4 7. exd4 Bd6
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Symmetrical Variation D40 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, San Sebastian Variation D41 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Qa5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Kmoch Variation D41 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bb5

More Queen's Gambit Declined lines (all)

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.