Queen's Gambit Declined: Pillsbury Attack

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Ne5

Queen's Gambit Declined: Pillsbury Attack after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Ne5 87654321abcdefgh

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Pillsbury Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO D55, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Ne5. 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: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9… Nbd7 10. Bf4 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 Nd7 12. Bf4)

ECO
D55
Moves
17 plies
FEN
rn1q1rk1/pbp1bppp/1p3n2/3pN1B1/3P4/2NBP3/PP3PPP/R2QK2R b KQ - 4 9
PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Bb7 9. Ne5

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Comes from

Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation (3… b6 4. Nc3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3

More Queen's Gambit Declined lines (all)

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.