Slav Defense: Czech Variation, Classical System, Main Line
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2
The Slav Defense: Czech Variation, Classical System, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO D19, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2. It is a line of the Slav Defense. 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 32 times by this move order. White won 41%, 3% were drawn and Black won 56%. The most popular continuation is 9… Bg6 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9… Bg6 10. Ne5 Nbd7 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Rd1)
- ECO
- D19
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
rn1q1rk1/pp3ppp/2p1pn2/5b2/PbBP4/2N1PN2/1P2QPPP/R1B2RK1 b - - 4 9- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 32 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… Bg6 | 12 (38%) | |
| 9… Nbd7 | 9 (28%) | |
| 9… Bg4 | 3 (9%) | |
| 9… Qa5 | 2 (6%) | |
| 9… Ne4 | 2 (6%) | |
| 9… Qc7 | 1 (3%) | |
| 9… Qe7 | 1 (3%) | |
| 9… h6 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
665 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 33%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM So, W. (2770) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 0-1 · Clutch Chess Showdown Int · 2020-06-12
- GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2750) – GM Levon Aronian (2780) 1/2-1/2 · 79th Tata Steel GpA · 2017-01-27
- GM Anish Giri (2764) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2718) 0-1 · Meltwater Tour Final 2022 · 2022-11-18
- GM Yangyi Yu (2709) – GM Veselin Topalov (2735) 1/2-1/2 · 11th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2020-12-07
- GM Gabriel Sargissian (2664) – GM Alireza Firouzja (2770) 0-1 · 23rd European Teams · 2021-11-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Lvictor (2452) – GM AtalikS (2627) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- KingChessT007 (2500) – Robert_E2009 (2570) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- akentokan (2402) – Liukin (2414) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Slav Defense: Czech Variation, Dutch Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O
Continuations
- Slav Defense: Czech Variation, Dutch Variation, Sämisch Variation D19 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Ne4 10. g4
More Slav Defense lines (all)
- Slav Defense (2. c4 c6) D10
- Slav Defense (2… c6 3. Nc3) D10
- Slav Defense (3. Nc3 dxc4) D10
- Slav Defense: Diemer Gambit D10
- Slav Defense: Exchange Variation (2… c6 3. cxd5) D10
- Slav Defense: Exchange Variation, Boor Attack D10
- Slav Defense: Slav Gambit, Alekhine Attack D10
- Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit D10
- Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit, Anti-Winawer Gambit D10
- Slav Defense: Bonet Gambit D11
- Slav Defense: Breyer Variation D11
- Slav Defense: Modern Line (2… c6 3. Nf3) D11
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.