Closed · a plan for White
Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense
6/6
1.d4d52.c4e63.Nc3Nf6
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense26.5M games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
9.1%2.4M52%
2.2%571k52%
1.2%328k53%
1.1%294k49%
1.1%283k53%
0.6%147k50%
Famous games in this line34k master games
Carlsen, M. (2855) – Kramnik, Vladimir (2812)Carlsen, M. (2851) – Kramnik, Vladimir (2801)Carlsen, M. (2851) – Kramnik, Vladimir (2801)Carlsen, M. (2832) – So, W. (2815)Carlsen, M. (2882) – Dominguez Perez, L. (2763)Aronian, L. (2777) – Carlsen, M. (2865)Carlsen, M.. (2847) – Nepomniachtchi, I.. (2789)Carlsen, M.. (2847) – Nepomniachtchi, I.. (2789)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · Nepomniachtchi, I..
- Family
- Queen's Gambit
- Category
- Closed
- First move
- 1.d4
- ECO
- D35
- Line
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6
Classical
★ Read the guide: Queen's Gambit DeclinedExplore all 257 Queen's Gambit lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack4.Bf4Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation4.Bg5 · 21 deeper linesQueen's Gambit Declined: Been-Koomen Variation4.Bg5 c5 · 4 deeper linesQueen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense4.Bg5 Nbd7 · 6 deeper lines
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
The Queen's Gambit appears in the Göttingen manuscript, written around 1500. It anchored world-championship matches for decades — 32 of the 34 games of Capablanca–Alekhine 1927 were Queen's Gambit Declined — and in 2020 a Netflix series watched by 62 million households emptied the world's chess-set shelves. It isn't even a real gambit: Black cannot safely keep the pawn.
Study this opening