Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation (4… c5 5. Bg5)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D40, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5. 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 433 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 5… cxd4 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.17 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 5… cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8. Qh4)
- ECO
- D40
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/4pn2/2pp2B1/2PP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 81 | |
| 1500-1999 | 310 | |
| 2000+ | 42 | |
| All | 433 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… cxd4 | 157 (36%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 152 (35%) | |
| 5… Nc6 | 47 (11%) | |
| 5… Nbd7 | 30 (7%) | |
| 5… h6 | 20 (5%) | |
| 5… dxc4 | 19 (4%) | |
| 5… b6 | 3 (1%) | |
| 5… a6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
19 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 74%, draw 10%, Black 16%). The strongest:
- Ryszard Eggink (2386) – WFM Marya Kiseljova (2031) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Jan Early · 2024-01-23
- Martin Bako (1852) – Roland Margl (2188) 0-1 · Hungarian Youth Teams 2018 · 2018-07-26
- WCM Natalia Belen Garcia Ortega (1744) – WCM Gloria Luz Yepez Montenegro (1869) 1-0 · 16th American Cont. Women · 2025-05-06
- Nikolaos Lampadariou (2033) – Nikolaos Kakalis (1248) 1-0 · 10th Gazi Open 2014 · 2014-07-30
- Jan Demarre (1762) – Robert Huizer (1516) 1-0 · Brasschaat Open 2015 · 2015-08-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- TrainingNot (2330) – zivansusulic (2274) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- Slobodjanjuk (2093) – FM munster1 (2479) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Racger (2159) – so_lee (2359) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6
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.