Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Henneberger Variation (7… a6 8. c5)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. c5

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Henneberger Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D63, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. c5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

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

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… c6 9. Bd3 e5 10. dxe5 Ne8 11. Bf4)

ECO

D63

Moves

15 plies

FEN

r1bq1rk1/1ppnbppp/p3pn2/2Pp2B1/3P4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/2RQKB1R b K - 0 8

PGN

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. c5

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

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.