Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (3… d5 4. Nc3)

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3

The Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D37, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 11 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,061 times by this move order. White won 49%, 7% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bb4 (28% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 4… Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4)

ECO: D37
Moves: 7 plies
FEN: rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 1 4
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	146	53%41%
1500-1999	982	51%44%
2000+	1,933	48%44%
All	3,061	49%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4… Bb4 Ragozin Defense	849 (28%)	52%41%
4… Be7	757 (25%)	48%45%
4… c6	435 (14%)	50%46%
4… c5 Semi-Tarrasch Defense (4. Nc3 c5)	425 (14%)	49%44%
4… dxc4 Three Knights, Vienna Variation	236 (8%)	48%47%
4… Nbd7 Barmen Variation	136 (4%)	49%46%
4… a6	87 (3%)	46%44%
4… b6	67 (2%)	48%49%

Master games

7,307 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 31%, Black 33%). The strongest:

KomodoDragon 2885.00 (3590) – Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-23
Stockfish dev15_20220302 (3612) – KomodoDragon 2885.00 (3590) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-21
GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Final 8 · 2020-06-25
GM Magnus Carlsen (2872) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) 1/2-1/2 · 82nd Tata Steel GpA · 2020-01-17
GM Magnus Carlsen (2882) – GM Liren Ding (2805) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Sinquefield Cup TB · 2019-08-29

Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

ScaryIndianJunior (2811) – GM cutemouse83 (2972) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
winx_m (2948) – NM Andrey11976 (2802) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
ScaryIndianJunior (2825) – kuhmft (2874) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3

Continuations

Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation D37 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7
Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense D38 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense (4. Nc3 c5) D40 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation D37 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack (4… Be7 5. Bf4) D37 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4
Queen's Gambit Declined: Miles Variation D37 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Qc2
Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Normal Line D55 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3
Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation, Main Line D55 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Alatortsev System D44 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 Nd5
Queen's Gambit Declined: Anti-Tartakower Variation, Petrosian Variation D55 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1 c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4
Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Szabo Variation D44 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. Qf3

More Queen's Gambit Declined lines (all)

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.