Indian · a plan for White
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation
7/7
1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nf3d54.Nc3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation13.2M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
27%3.6M48%
3.5%464k48%
2.5%332k47%
2.4%312k40%
1.7%226k46%
Famous games in this line79k master games
Carlsen, M. (2882) – Caruana, F. (2818)Carlsen, Magnus (2863) – Caruana, Fabiano (2835)Carlsen, Magnus (2863) – Caruana, Fabiano (2835)Carlsen, Magnus (2863) – Caruana, Fabiano (2835)Carlsen, M. (2881) – Aronian, L. (2815)Carlsen, M. (2881) – Aronian, L. (2815)Aronian, L. (2815) – Carlsen, M. (2881)Carlsen, M. (2882) – Ding Liren (2805)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, Magnus
- Family
- Queen's Gambit
- Category
- Indian
- First move
- 1.d4
- ECO
- D37
- Line
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3
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: Ragozin Defense4…Bb4 · 3 deeper linesQueen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation4…Nbd7 · 2 deeper linesQueen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense4…c5 · 3 deeper linesQueen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation4…dxc4 · 1 deeper line
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