Queen's Gambit Declined: Westphalian Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 c5
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Westphalian Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D38, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 c5. 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 5 times by this move order. White won 40%, 0% were drawn and Black won 60%. The most popular continuation is 7. cxd5 (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 37; best line 7. cxd5 exd5 8. dxc5 Qa5 9. Rc1 Bxc3+)
- ECO
- D38
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/pp1n1ppp/4pn2/2pp2B1/1bPP4/2N1PN2/PP3PPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. cxd5 | 2 (40%) | |
| 7. Be2 | 2 (40%) | |
| 7. Bd3 | 1 (20%) |
Master games
100 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 28%, draw 33%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Anton Korobov (2652) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2799) 1-0 · 2nd IMSA Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-12
- GM Liren Ding (2734) – GM Yangyi Yu (2714) 0-1 · 4th CHN Rapid/Blitz 2025 · 2025-07-15
- GM David Paravyan (2653) – GM Maxim Matlakov (2685) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Aug · 2020-08-25
- GM Maxim Matlakov (2710) – GM Evgeny Alekseev (2623) 1-0 · 35th ECC Open 2019 · 2019-11-16
- GM Alexey Sarana (2656) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2671) 1-0 · PRO League Group Stage · 2020-02-10
Search all games of the Queen's Gambit Declined: Westphalian Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Anye_1258 (2286) – IM jacosta-777 (2376) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- mascot33 (2298) – ZiguratZenMelle (2162) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- LinkStone (2043) – Theboss7345 (2095) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4
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.