Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Pin Defense
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4
The Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Pin Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D11, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4. It is a line of the Slav Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 414 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nc3 (25% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5. Nc3 e6 6. h3 Bxf3 7. Qxf3 Bb4)
- ECO
- D11
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/pp2pppp/2p2n2/3p4/2PP2b1/4PN2/PP3PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 65 | |
| 1500-1999 | 198 | |
| 2000+ | 151 | |
| All | 414 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nc3 | 104 (25%) | |
| 5. Be2 | 102 (25%) | |
| 5. h3 | 71 (17%) | |
| 5. Qb3 | 50 (12%) | |
| 5. Nbd2 | 37 (9%) | |
| 5. cxd5 | 23 (6%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 14 (3%) | |
| 5. b3 | 5 (1%) |
Master games
1,999 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 33%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2806) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) 1-0 · Chessable Masters KO 2022 · 2022-05-24
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2834) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2793) 1-0 · 7th London Classic 2015 · 2015-12-11
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM So, W. (2770) 1-0 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2016-06-19
- GM So, W. (2772) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 0-1 · San Fermin Masters Final · 2021-07-11
- GM Liren Ding (2774) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) 1/2-1/2 · Carlsen-Ding Showdown G30 · 2017-11-11
Search all games of the Slav Defense: Quiet Variation, Pin Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Robert_E2009 (2645) – FM stanbad1 (2692) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- New_2025 (2609) – teknasw (2687) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- IM pifion (2718) – Blagoslavlenny_Bogom (2534) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Slav Defense: Quiet Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3
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.