Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Swiss, Carlsbad Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. cxd5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Swiss, Carlsbad Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D63, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. cxd5. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black 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 8… exd5 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… exd5 9. Bd3 c6 10. O-O Ne4 11. Bf4)
- ECO
- D63
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/1ppnbppp/p3pn2/3P2B1/3P4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/2RQKB1R b K - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 a6 8. cxd5
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 8… exd5 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
9 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 34%, Black 22%). The strongest:
- GM Simen Agdestein (2559) – GM Berge Ostenstad (2484) 1-0 · ch-NOR 2012 · 2012-07-11
- Gabor Nagy (2408) – IM David Anton Guijarro (2559) 0-1 · WY BU18 2012 · 2012-11-11
- GM Valentina Gunina (2496) – WGM Natalija Pogonina (2454) 1/2-1/2 · Tehran WGP 2016 · 2016-02-17
- GM Mustafa Yilmaz (2581) – Amin Nasri (2311) 1-0 · Istanbul Open 2014 · 2014-09-04
- GM Denis Khismatullin (2617) – Dmitry Tsoi (2160) 1-0 · TCh-RUS Blitz 2016 · 2016-10-07
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fueguino (2197) – Schachbrettreiniger (2212) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Henneberger Variation (7. Rc1 a6) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 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.