Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line (7. Rc1 c6)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line 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 c6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 8. Bd3 (67% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 54; best line 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Qxe7)
- ECO
- D63
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/2RQKB1R w 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 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Bd3 | 2 (67%) | |
| 8. Qc2 Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack (7… c6 8. Qc2) | 1 (33%) |
Master games
20 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 15%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- GM Paulius Pultinevicius (2541) – IM Yury Lapshun (2382) 1-0 · Riga Tech Open A 2022 · 2022-08-18
- GM Evgeny Postny (2528) – FM Rodolfos Stamatiou (2317) 1-0 · 4th Paphos Int Open 2026 · 2026-04-19
- GM Valentina Gunina (2427) – IM Alexander Katz (2400) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 30th Mar · 2021-03-30
- FM Nihal Sarin (2349) – GM Kidambi Sundararajan (2469) 1/2-1/2 · 35th Zalakaros Open 2016 · 2016-06-01
- GM Branko Damljanovic (2393) – FM Md Imran (2421) 0-1 · RUDAR 37 IM 2025 · 2025-04-02
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MeyerFrank (2282) – e4_d5_cxd5 (2201) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- Craigers518 (2124) – Elefant_91 (2197) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 3s
- alfilborracho (2068) – Mardelsur (1775) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line (6… Nbd7 7. Rc1) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack (7… c6 8. Qc2) D64 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation (12… e5 13. Qc2) D68 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 13. Qc2
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.