Slav Defense: Soultanbeieff Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6
The Slav Defense: Soultanbeieff Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D16, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6. 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 40 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 6. e3 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 Be7 8. e4 cxd4)
- ECO
- D16
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp3ppp/2p1pn2/8/P1pP4/2N2N2/1P2PPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 e6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 15 | |
| 2000+ | 21 | |
| All | 40 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. e3 | 21 (53%) | |
| 6. e4 | 9 (23%) | |
| 6. Bg5 | 6 (15%) | |
| 6. Ne5 | 4 (10%) |
Master games
619 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 33%, draw 49%, Black 18%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2737) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 0-1 · World Rapid 2016 · 2016-12-27
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2780) – GM Sergey Karjakin (2778) 1/2-1/2 · 5th Final Masters · 2012-10-13
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2853) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2701) 0-1 · Chessable Masters Div 1 W · 2023-04-03
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2710) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) 0-1 · World Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-30
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2790) – GM Peter Svidler (2757) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates 2016 · 2016-03-13
Search all games of the Slav Defense: Soultanbeieff Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- land12345 (2600) – chess_tiger15 (2569) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- imsk (2552) – xvz150 (2525) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Ahmad-Rabee (2478) – Check12_Well (2344) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Slav Defense: Alapin Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4
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.