Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line (8. Bh4 c5)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Rc1 h6 8. Bh4 c5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO D63, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Rc1 h6 8. Bh4 c5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 9. cxd5 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Bxe7 Nxe7 11. Bb5 cxd4)
- ECO
- D63
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbpp1/4pn1p/2pp4/2PP3B/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/2RQKB1R w K - 0 9- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Rc1 h6 8. Bh4 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. cxd5 | 2 (100%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 25%, draw 75%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Alexandr Predke (2668) – GM David W L Howell (2648) 1/2-1/2 · Lindores Abbey Tal Mem · 2021-11-08
- FM Carlos David Gomez (2386) – GM Federico Perez Ponsa (2542) 1/2-1/2 · 4th Buenos Aires Open · 2026-05-25
- GM Valeriane Gaprindashvili (2358) – IM Parviz Gasimov (2377) 1/2-1/2 · Fourth Sunday IM Mar 2022 · 2022-03-22
- Matthieu Loncke (2152) – Kasimir Boissel (1935) 1-0 · Belgian Youth U20 2024 · 2024-05-11
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM PJatoba (2365) – viraajbhrdwaj (1761) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- zazamez (1872) – Magnocarlo (1791) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined (4. Bg5 Be7) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7
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.