Rubinstein Opening: Bogoljubow Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bb2 O-O

The Rubinstein Opening: Bogoljubow Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D05, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bb2 O-O. It is a line of the Rubinstein Opening. White is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Nbd2 b6 10. a3 a5)

ECO: D05
Moves: 14 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/pp3ppp/2nbpn2/2pp4/3P4/1P1BPN2/PBP2PPP/RN1Q1RK1 w - - 5 8
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3 Nc6 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bb2 O-O

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Master games

38 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 31%, Black 32%). The strongest:

GM Robert Markus (2632) – GM Levan Pantsulaia (2567) 1/2-1/2 · 20th European Teams · 2015-11-17
GM Nikola Sedlak (2549) – GM Milos Perunovic (2614) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-SRB Premier 2015 · 2015-08-20
GM Alvar Alonso Rosell (2537) – GM Jaime Alexander Cuartas (2482) 0-1 · TCh-CAT Gp1 2017 · 2017-02-11
GM Michael Prusikin (2555) – IM Oliver Kurmann (2421) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-SUI 2013 · 2013-04-28
GM Tamaz Gelashvili (2568) – FM Craig Hilby (2347) 0-1 · 26th North American Open · 2016-12-27

Search all games of the Rubinstein Opening: Bogoljubow Defense and its sub-variations

Comes from

Rubinstein Opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 c5 4. Bd3 d5 5. b3

More Rubinstein Opening lines (all)

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.