Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation (5… Nxd5 6. e3)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e3
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury 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. e3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 14 times by this move order. White won 21%, 22% were drawn and Black won 57%. The most popular continuation is 6… Nc6 (43% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 6… cxd4 7. exd4 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Qc7 9. Bb2)
- ECO
- D41
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/4p3/2pn4/3P4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 14 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Nc6 | 6 (43%) | |
| 6… cxd4 | 4 (29%) | |
| 6… Nxc3 | 3 (21%) | |
| 6… Be7 | 1 (7%) |
Master games
70 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 34%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM David Navara (2734) – GM Pentala Harikrishna (2753) 0-1 · IMSA Blitz 2016 · 2016-02-28
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2743) 1/2-1/2 · Opera Euro Rapid Prelim · 2021-02-06
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2747) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2725) 1/2-1/2 · CGC KO 2022 · 2022-09-28
- GM Alexander Riazantsev (2646) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2777) 0-1 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-13
- GM Quang Liem Le (2709) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) 1-0 · Xiong vs. Liem Rapid 2020 · 2020-08-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- July16Q (2616) – JeromePanoSoler (2685) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2616) – JeromePanoSoler (2675) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2616) – NM MMM_Zhukovskiy (2673) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense (4… c5 5. cxd5) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Main Line D42 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3
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.