Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (5. e3 O-O)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. e3 O-O
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D37, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. e3 O-O. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 451 times by this move order. White won 43%, 8% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 6. Bd3 (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 51; best line 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. cxd5 Nxd5)
- ECO
- D37
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQ - 1 6- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. e3 O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 46 | |
| 1500-1999 | 278 | |
| 2000+ | 127 | |
| All | 451 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Bd3 | 254 (56%) | |
| 6. Be2 | 71 (16%) | |
| 6. cxd5 | 44 (10%) | |
| 6. b3 | 21 (5%) | |
| 6. Qc2 | 15 (3%) | |
| 6. a3 | 13 (3%) | |
| 6. c5 | 9 (2%) | |
| 6. Bd2 | 8 (2%) |
Master games
190 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 29%, draw 30%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2710) – GM Martyn Kravtsiv (2598) 0-1 · Chess.com Open PlayIn1 · 2026-03-16
- GM Dmitry Andreikin (2710) – GM Martyn Kravtsiv (2598) 1-0 · Titled Tue 17th Feb 2026 · 2026-02-17
- GM Marat Dzhumaev (2505) – GM Alexei Barsov (2462) 1/2-1/2 · ch-UZB 2015 · 2015-05-16
- GM Ivan Ivanisevic (2603) – FM Bahadir Ozen (2349) 1-0 · European Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-07
- IM Milovan Ratkovic (2445) – IM Milos Stankovic (2435) 1/2-1/2 · ch-SRB Semi-Final 2022 · 2022-03-21
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MohammedAshor125 (2519) – Yaponets (2584) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Xaalt (2489) – SugarMagnolia (2507) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- IM Angelicanmade (2486) – WangMuyuan123 (2486) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 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.