Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation (12. Rxc3 e5)
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 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D68, 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 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 13. dxe5 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.34 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 13. Bb3 a5 14. h3 Rd8 15. Re1 g6)
- ECO
- D68
- Moves
- 24 plies
- FEN
r1b2rk1/pp1nqppp/2p5/4p3/2BP4/2R1PN2/PP3PPP/3Q1RK1 w - - 0 13- 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 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 13. dxe5 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
3 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 67%, draw 33%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- IM Helmut Kummer (2297) – IM Manfred Hangweyrer (2362) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-AUT 2nd Ost 2017-18 · 2018-02-24
- FM Yi Liu (2250) – IM Stephen J Solomon (2380) 1-0 · Australian Open 2017 · 2017-01-08
- Jakov Pavic (2164) – Pavo Matanovic (1839) 1-0 · Croatian Cup 2018 · 2018-05-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- mbegazo (1875) – nunopotenciado (1877) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line (10… Qxe7 11. O-O) 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 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation (14. Nxe5 Qxe5) D69 · 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 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5
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.