Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D37, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 236 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 5. e4 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nf6)
- ECO
- D37
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/8/2pP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 23 | |
| 1500-1999 | 61 | |
| 2000+ | 152 | |
| All | 236 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. e4 | 106 (45%) | |
| 5. e3 Vienna Variation, Quiet Variation | 60 (25%) | |
| 5. Bg5 | 42 (18%) | |
| 5. g3 | 8 (3%) | |
| 5. a4 | 7 (3%) | |
| 5. Qa4+ | 6 (3%) | |
| 5. Bf4 | 3 (1%) | |
| 5. Ne5 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
2,044 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 34%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2882) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2818) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Sinquefield Cup 2019 · 2019-08-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2793) 0-1 · SuperUnited Blitz 2022 · 2022-07-24
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 29th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-29
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2817) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2832) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2018-19 · 2019-03-03
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2767) 1/2-1/2 · Croatia GCT 2019 · 2019-06-27
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ScaryIndianJunior (2820) – F1nal_Masquerade (2756) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- JAGMM (2604) – Greener_23 (2707) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Juan_Delasala (2745) – Achilleus88 (2559) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation (3… d5 4. Nc3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3
Continuations
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Vienna Variation, Quiet Variation D37 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3
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.