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
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. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 29 times by this move order. White won 48%, 14% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 7… b6 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 7… h6 8. Bh4 c5 9. dxc5 Nxc5 10. cxd5)
- ECO
- D61
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pppnbppp/4pn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N1PN2/PPQ2PPP/R3KB1R b KQ - 4 7- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 12 | |
| 2000+ | 16 | |
| All | 29 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… b6 | 9 (31%) | |
| 7… h6 | 7 (24%) | |
| 7… c5 Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c5) | 5 (17%) | |
| 7… c6 Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c6) | 4 (14%) | |
| 7… Re8 | 2 (7%) | |
| 7… a6 | 2 (7%) |
Master games
44 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Erigaisi Arjun (2799) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2712) 1/2-1/2 · Chennai GM 2024 · 2024-11-09
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2654) – GM Gleb Dudin (2510) 1/2-1/2 · 24th ch-EUR Indiv 2024 · 2024-11-17
- GM Nana Dzagnidze (2518) – GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2528) 1/2-1/2 · Tata Steel India Blitz w · 2024-11-17
- GM Aleksandar Indjic (2651) – Ethan Sheehan (2363) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Mar Late · 2025-03-04
- GM Lev Yankelevich (2420) – GM Thomas Beerdsen (2509) 1/2-1/2 · 1st Galdar Open 2024 · 2024-09-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- El_Sudaca (2328) – fisek92 (2348) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Suhareka75 (2357) – leartt (2227) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Mustajab67 (2277) – quintela06 (2290) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined (4. Bg5 Be7) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c5) D61 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c5
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (7. Qc2 c6) D61 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Variation (9. Bd3 Re8) D61 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 a6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 Re8
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.