Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7… c6 8. a3)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. a3
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 8. a3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… h6 9. Bh4 a6 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bd3)
- ECO
- D61
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/P1N1PN2/1PQ2PPP/R3KB1R b 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 8. a3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
3 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 67%, draw 33%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- FM Alexander Sergeyev (2374) – GM Maxim Lugovskoy (2420) 1/2-1/2 · 73rd ch-RUS HL 2020 · 2020-10-17
- WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet (2314) – WFM Jahan Rejepova (1972) 1-0 · Turkic Women's Team 2026 · 2026-05-17
- Peter Shaw (2052) – Silas Peck (1999) 1-0 · 4NCL Div 2a 2019-20 · 2020-02-29
Comes from
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
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.