Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Exchange Variation (6… Nxc3 7. bxc3)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D41, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3. 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 64 times by this move order. White won 39%, 11% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 7… cxd4 (98% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 7… cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2)
- ECO
- D41
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/4p3/2p5/3PP3/2P2N2/P4PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 11 | |
| 2000+ | 53 | |
| All | 64 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… cxd4 | 63 (98%) | |
| 7… Nc6 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
1,006 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 40%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
- Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2861) – GM Liren Ding (2805) 1/2-1/2 · Cote d'Ivoire Rapid 2019 · 2019-05-10
- GM Veselin Topalov (2803) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2834) 1/2-1/2 · 7th London Classic 2015 · 2015-12-12
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020-07-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NM Andrey11976 (2792) – BILLYS10 (2753) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- NM Andrey11976 (2794) – BILLYS10 (2748) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- NM Andrey11976 (2800) – NameTheGame (2718) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Exchange Variation (5… Nxd5 6. e4) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4
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.