Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D38, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 849 times by this move order. White won 52%, 7% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bg5 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. e3 O-O 7. Qc2 Re8)
- ECO
- D38
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p4/1bPP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 58 | |
| 1500-1999 | 309 | |
| 2000+ | 482 | |
| All | 849 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bg5 | 314 (37%) | |
| 5. Qa4+ Ragozin Defense, Alekhine Variation | 146 (17%) | |
| 5. e3 | 103 (12%) | |
| 5. cxd5 | 102 (12%) | |
| 5. Bd2 | 51 (6%) | |
| 5. a3 | 41 (5%) | |
| 5. Qb3 | 32 (4%) | |
| 5. Qc2 | 26 (3%) |
Master games
5,756 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 37%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- ScorpioNN 3.0.11 (3496) – Stoofvlees II a16 (3513) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-03
- Stoofvlees II a16 (3513) – ScorpioNN 3.0.11 (3496) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-01
- GM Levon Aronian (2815) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2881) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Rapid 2014 · 2014-06-18
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2881) – GM Levon Aronian (2815) 1-0 · 2nd Norway Chess 2014 · 2014-06-08
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2820) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) 1/2-1/2 · 34th ECC Open 2018 · 2018-10-16
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM sillyMASTER (2864) – evg85 (2781) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- NM Andrey11976 (2794) – evg85 (2809) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- ScaryIndianJunior (2807) – New_2025 (2615) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (3… d5 4. Nc3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Alekhine Variation D38 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense, Vienna Variation D39 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 dxc4
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Westphalian Variation D38 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 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.