Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 c4

The Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D33, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 c4. It is a line of the Tarrasch Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 6 times by this move order. White won 50%, 17% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 7. Bg2 (100% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.33 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 7. Bg2 Be7 8. b3 cxb3 9. Qxb3 Nf6)

ECO: D33
Moves: 12 plies
FEN: r1bqkbnr/pp3ppp/2n5/3p4/2pP4/2N2NP1/PP2PP1P/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 7
PGN: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 c4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
2000+	6	50%17%33%
All	6	50%17%33%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7. Bg2	6 (100%)	50%17%33%

Master games

83 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 30%, Black 29%). The strongest:

GM Johann Hjartarson (2520) – GM Ilan Manor (2461) 0-1 · World Senior Teams +50 · 2019-04-24
GM Vladimir Zakhartsov (2471) – IM Sergey Grishchenko (2415) 1-0 · TCh-RUS HL 2019 · 2019-05-07
FM Asrorjon Omonov (2399) – IM Semen Mitusov (2469) 1/2-1/2 · 62nd World Juniors 2025 · 2025-02-28
IM Abdimalik Abdisalimov (2392) – GM Artur Gabrielian (2458) 0-1 · PNWCC Opening Blitz QG · 2020-11-21
FM Lubos Rosko (2357) – GM Milos Jirovsky (2441) 1-0 · ch-CZE Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-17

Search all games of the Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

SchhW (2533) – IM Jorgitomgs (2538) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
lidenbrook (2393) – Ryssy (2392) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
wilkolak1961 (2354) – Dzon_Vejn (2356) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Tarrasch Defense: Rubinstein System 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3

Continuations

Tarrasch Defense: Swedish Variation, Central Break D33 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 c4 7. e4

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.