Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c5)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D61, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 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 5 times by this move order. White won 40%, 20% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 8. Rd1 (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.23 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 8. cxd5 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nxd5 10. Bxe7 Nxe7)
- ECO
- D61
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/4pn2/2pp2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/PPQ2PPP/R3KB1R w KQ - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Rd1 | 2 (40%) | |
| 8. cxd5 | 2 (40%) | |
| 8. dxc5 | 1 (20%) |
Master games
10 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 60%, draw 0%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Essam El Gindy (2407) – IM Husain Aziz (2329) 0-1 · Riyadh Calendar Chess · 2023-03-18
- FM Logan C Shafer (2328) – Ethan Sheehan (2397) 0-1 · 3rd 3-0 Thu 27th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-27
- GM Andrei Istratescu (2596) – Peter Hofbauer (2061) 1-0 · 25th Donau Open 2016 · 2016-12-26
- WGM Mo Zhai (2302) – WGM Xiaowen Zhang (2332) 1-0 · TCh-CHN 2017 · 2017-12-02
- WIM Mo Zhai (2382) – Simon Le Marec (2202) 1-0 · 32nd Cappelle Open 2016 · 2016-02-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- bosk (2184) – fettsack234 (2136) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- FritzwalterHUN (2106) – sipkoAleks (2099) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Sayed-Khan (1907) – ZOR71 (2026) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (6… Nbd7 7. Qc2) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. 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.