Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line (7… c6 8. Bd3)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line is a chess opening classified as ECO D66, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3. 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 10 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 8… dxc4 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 8… dxc4 9. Bxc4 h6 10. Bh4 Nd5 11. Bxe7)
- ECO
- D66
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2NBPN2/PP3PPP/2RQK2R b K - 1 8- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… dxc4 | 6 (60%) | |
| 8… h6 | 4 (40%) |
Master games
11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 82%, draw 18%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- IM Goran N Todorovic (2378) – GM Vladimir G Kostic (2367) 1/2-1/2 · 1st League Cent-SRB · 2015-09-06
- FM Daniel Taboas Rodriguez (2353) – FM Casper Liu (2317) 1-0 · Titled Tue 2nd Aug Late · 2022-08-02
- GM Yuri S Balashov (2437) – Hans Dekan (2178) 1-0 · TCh-EUR Senior 2015 · 2015-07-20
- FM Allahverdi Hamidov (2285) – FM Bekhruz Umarov (2224) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 24th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-24
- GM Ariel Sorin (2401) – Gerardo Santopietro (2092) 1-0 · Timbues Open 2019 · 2019-11-16
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Al_BundyZG (2308) – rusert13 (2399) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- thepurplesage (2278) – KeShaVJInDALZO (2172) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- amjad00ib (2141) – Alexander_Gudz (2092) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined (4. Bg5 Be7) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line (8… h6 9. Bh4) D66 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 h6 9. Bh4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca System D67 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5
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.