Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D31, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 74,226 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 3… Nf6 (58% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3… Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 c6 6. e3)
- ECO
- D31
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 15,034 | |
| 1500-1999 | 42,626 | |
| 2000+ | 16,566 | |
| All | 74,226 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Nf6 Normal Defense | 42,969 (58%) | |
| 3… c6 Accelerated Move Order | 8,878 (12%) | |
| 3… Bb4 | 6,884 (9%) | |
| 3… c5 Tarrasch Defense | 4,182 (6%) | |
| 3… dxc4 | 3,534 (5%) | |
| 3… a6 Janowski Variation | 1,842 (2%) | |
| 3… f5 | 1,533 (2%) | |
| 3… Be7 Charousek Variation | 1,248 (2%) |
Master games
4,772 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2805) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2861) 1/2-1/2 · Cote d'Ivoire Blitz 2019 · 2019-05-11
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 1st Aug Late · 2023-08-01
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2765) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 0-1 · FTX Crypto Cup KO 2021 · 2021-05-29
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2731) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2870) 0-1 · Tata Steel India Blitz · 2019-11-25
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 0-1 · Clutch Chess Showdown Int · 2020-06-06
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM cutemouse83 (2942) – feeblad (2834) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- GM cutemouse83 (2939) – GM Fabsid (2826) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- GM cutemouse83 (2975) – GM Fabsid (2782) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined (2. c4 e6) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation D31 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation D31 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense D35 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6
- Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Move Order D31 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6
- Tarrasch Defense D32 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5
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.