Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Réti Variation

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Na4

The Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Réti Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D34, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Na4. It is a line of the Tarrasch Defense. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 10… Be7 (100% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 10… Be7 11. Nd4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Be6 13. Rd1)

ECO: D34
Moves: 19 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/pp3ppp/2n2n2/2bp4/N7/5NP1/PP2PPBP/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 1 10
PGN: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Na4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
2000+	3	100%
All	3	100%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
10… Be7	3 (100%)	100%

Master games

89 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 26%, Black 19%). The strongest:

GM Hikaru Nakamura (2788) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2651) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Div 2 L · 2024-02-04
GM Hao Wang (2735) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2650) 1-0 · IMSA World Masters Rapid · 2019-05-15
GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2701) – GM Aleksander Delchev (2622) 1/2-1/2 · French Top 12 2013 · 2013-06-07
GM Ernesto Inarkiev (2672) – GM Alexander Berelowitsch (2549) 1-0 · Bundesliga 2014-15 · 2014-10-18
GM Abhijeet Gupta (2619) – GM Jakhongir Vakhidov (2525) 1-0 · 14th Asian Continental · 2015-08-06

Search all games of the Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Réti Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

omariscof (2546) – Boreminator (2555) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
keb2 (2329) – Ayda_M (2327) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
HMVuchess (2237) – Olga31 (2124) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s

Comes from

Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O

More Tarrasch Defense 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.