Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca Variation

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5

Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca Variation after 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5 87654321abcdefgh

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D63, reached after 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 9… Bb7 10. O-O a6 11. Ba4 h6 12. Bh4)

ECO
D63
Moves
17 plies
FEN
r1bq1rk1/p1pnbppp/1p3n2/1B1p2B1/3P4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/2RQK2R b K - 1 9
PGN
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5

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

Comes from

Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3 d5) 1. Nf3 d5

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.