Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan (2… Nf6 3. g3)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3
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. It is a line of the Queen's Pawn Game. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 6,746 times by this move order. White won 51%, 6% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3… e6 (26% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.06 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3… Bf5 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 h6 6. Bg2)
- ECO
- D02
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/3P4/5NP1/PPP1PP1P/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,295 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,633 | |
| 2000+ | 1,818 | |
| All | 6,746 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… e6 | 1,746 (26%) | |
| 3… Bf5 | 1,225 (18%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 1,000 (15%) | |
| 3… Bg4 | 818 (12%) | |
| 3… g6 | 605 (9%) | |
| 3… c5 | 503 (7%) | |
| 3… c6 | 498 (7%) | |
| 3… h6 | 98 (1%) |
Master games
6,065 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 25%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2805) – GM Anish Giri (2745) 0-1 · Bullet Chess Losers 2024 · 2024-06-11
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2772) – GM Anish Giri (2776) 1/2-1/2 · Superbet Blitz 2019 · 2019-11-09
- GM Gukesh D (2763) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2766) 1/2-1/2 · Superbet ROM Classic 2024 · 2024-06-30
- GM Gukesh D (2752) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2773) 1-0 · 40th ECC Open 2025 · 2025-10-24
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2779) – GM Etienne Bacrot (2725) 1/2-1/2 · Makedonia Palace GP · 2013-05-25
Highest-rated Lichess games
- RecklessReligious (2806) – Vahe_S (2756) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- uSeRnAmEnOtAvAiL (2746) – oprahwindfury81 (2784) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- TacticalUppercut (2602) – Freerunning (2766) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6
Continuations
- Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan (4. Bg2 Bg4) D02 · 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Bg4
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.