Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c6)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6
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 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 4 times by this move order. White won 75%, 0% were drawn and Black won 25%. The most popular continuation is 8. Rd1 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 8. a3 h6 9. Bh4 Ne8 10. Bg3 Nd6)
- ECO
- D61
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/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 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Rd1 | 2 (50%) | |
| 8. O-O-O | 1 (25%) | |
| 8. Bxf6 | 1 (25%) |
Master games
15 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 53%, draw 27%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Robert Markus (2553) – GM Aleksa Strikovic (2402) 1-0 · TCh-SRB Premier 2025 · 2025-09-28
- IM Justin Sarkar (2373) – GM Leonid Yudasin (2481) 1/2-1/2 · Marshall IM Norm 2020 · 2020-03-01
- FM Sinisa Remecki (2333) – FM Andrej Ljepic (2325) 1/2-1/2 · Third Saturday GM Mix 246 · 2022-04-20
- GM Vitaly Kunin (2552) – Kamel Otmani (2105) 1-0 · 12th Nantes Open · 2013-12-28
- IM Goran Trkulja (2310) – FM Borislav Prastalo (2305) 1-0 · 14th Premier League BIH · 2015-09-12
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Zevs29101984 (2170) – BDjisan2 (2220) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
- FritzwalterHUN (2123) – Destroyer_011 (2110) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- rhein33 (1966) – nhamzani (1842) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 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
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7… c6 8. a3) D61 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. a3
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (8. Rd1 a6) D61 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Rd1 a6
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.