Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan (4. Bg2 Bg4)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4
The Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan is a chess opening classified as ECO D02, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4. 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 109 times by this move order. White won 52%, 12% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (62% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5. h3 Bh5 6. O-O e6 7. c4 Nbd7)
- ECO
- D02
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pp2pppp/2p2n2/3p4/3P2b1/5NP1/PPP1PPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 9 | |
| 1500-1999 | 50 | |
| 2000+ | 50 | |
| All | 109 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. O-O | 68 (62%) | |
| 5. Ne5 | 19 (17%) | |
| 5. c4 | 8 (7%) | |
| 5. Nbd2 | 7 (6%) | |
| 5. c3 | 3 (3%) | |
| 5. h3 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5. a3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 5. b3 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
168 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 28%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2805) – GM Anish Giri (2745) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Losers 2024 · 2024-06-11
- GM Petro Golubka (2452) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2725) 1-0 · Titled Arena Apr 3rd 2021 · 2021-04-03
- GM Tamas Banusz (2631) – GM Andrey Rychagov (2545) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 1st Dec · 2020-12-01
- GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2705) – FM Artin Ashraf (2470) 0-1 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 24th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-24
- GM Jorge Cori (2599) – GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (2552) 1/2-1/2 · Carlos Torre Mem Blitz · 2025-12-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Zaplya (2531) – GSRAkz (2454) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- e4dahaiyi (2524) – drglavas (2420) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- ronen1234 (2394) – KnezBaralija (2386) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan (2… Nf6 3. g3) 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3
Continuations
- Slav Defense: Modern Line (5… Nbd7 6. c4) D11 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4 5. O-O Nbd7 6. c4
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.