Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation (2. Nc3 e6)
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6
The Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D00, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6. It is a line of the Queen's Pawn Game. 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 25,532 times by this move order. White won 49%, 5% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bf4 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3. e4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6)
- ECO
- D00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/3P4/2N5/PPP1PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 12,663 | |
| 1500-1999 | 11,260 | |
| 2000+ | 1,609 | |
| All | 25,532 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Bf4 Rapport-Jobava System, with e6 | 13,496 (53%) | |
| 3. e4 | 5,005 (20%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 3,629 (14%) | |
| 3. a3 | 1,246 (5%) | |
| 3. e3 | 768 (3%) | |
| 3. f3 | 475 (2%) | |
| 3. g3 | 265 (1%) | |
| 3. Qd3 | 98 (0%) |
Master games
465 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 17%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2694) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 28th May 2026 · 2026-05-28
- GM Naroditsky, D. (2619) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) 0-1 · Bullet Chess Winners 2024 · 2024-06-12
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770) – GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2640) 0-1 · Titled Arena Mar 6th 2021 · 2021-03-06
- GM Richard Rapport (2707) – GM Varuzhan Akobian (2647) 1-0 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-29
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2731) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-13
Search all games of the Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CM PchelkinVK (2660) – GM cutemouse83 (2924) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- CM PchelkinVK (2644) – Freerunning (2763) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- TheEssssjuuus (2604) – KaptanPark (2626) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation (1… d5 2. Nc3) 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3
Continuations
- Rapport-Jobava System, with e6 D01 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bf4
More Queen's Pawn Game lines (all)
- Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4) A40
- Queen's Pawn Game: Anglo-Slav Opening A40
- Queen's Pawn Game: Modern Defense A40
- Queen's Pawn Game (1. d4 d6) A41
- Queen's Pawn Game: Rossolimo Variation A41
- Queen's Pawn Game: Liedmann Gambit A43
- Queen's Pawn Game: Chigorin Variation (2. Nc3 d5) A45
- Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov, Richter Attack A45
- Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack, Breyer Variation A46
- Queen's Pawn Game: Veresov Attack, Classical Defense A46
- Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (3… d5 4. Bf4) A48
- Queen's Pawn Game: Barry Attack (4. Bf4 Bg7) A48
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.