Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (8. Rd1 a6)
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
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. Rd1 a6. 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 1 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 9. a3 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 29; best line 9. h4 h6 10. a3 b6 11. Bxf6 Nxf6)
- ECO
- D61
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/1p1nbppp/p1p1pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/PPQ2PPP/3RKB1R w K - 0 9- PGN
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
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. a3 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 50%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- FM Farhan Mohannad (2128) – Seyed Emadeddin Mousavi (1954) 1-0 · 19th Kesan Open 2024 · 2024-08-14
- Jiri Chmelik (2001) – Petr Parpel (1778) 1/2-1/2 · 8th Teplice Open 2013 · 2013-06-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FritzwalterHUN (2123) – Destroyer_011 (2110) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
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.