Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation
The Old Variation is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3, a quiet way for White to meet the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
5,672,304 games: White 55.7% / Draw 4.8% / Black 39.5%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 1,326,1631.3M | ||
| 914,253914K | ||
| 913,131913K | ||
| 729,616730K | ||
| 444,099444K | ||
| 252,916253K | ||
| 248,924249K | ||
| 217,412217K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 7, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.20 The position is about equal
Best play: 3... e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Bd6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. Qe2+ Qe7 8. Qxe7+
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
The stronger the players, the worse this line does for White: White scores 58% under 1400, 52% at 2200 and up and 57% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 4.8M | |
| 1400–1799 | 6.8M | |
| 1800–2199 | 2.3M | |
| 2200 and up | 226K | |
| Masters, over the board | 5,015 |
Master games
- Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F.
- Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L.
- So, W. – Caruana, F.
- Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L.
- Aronian, L. – Caruana, F.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Description
The Old Variation is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3, a quiet way for White to meet the Queen's Gambit Accepted. The apparently modest 3.e3 prepares to win back the pawn at once with Bxc4, and strong players, including Anatoly Karpov, have often used it.
Main lines
- 3...e5 strikes back at the centre. Its early discovery gave 3.e3 a harmless reputation for a long time. A typical continuation is 4.Bxc4 exd4 5.exd4, with an isolated queen's pawn for White. The open positions that follow have not proved easy for Black to handle in practice, but the author Rizzitano still recommends 3...e5 against 3.e3.
- 3...e6 is a simpler choice that many players make, transposing back to the main lines of the Queen's Gambit Accepted.
A trap from 1604
An old trap catches Black trying to keep the extra pawn. Alessandro Salvio pointed out in 1604 that after 3...b5? 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5?? the long diagonal is fatally weakened: 6.Qf3 Nc6 7.Qxc6+ wins a piece. 3...Be6 does hold on to the pawn, but White gets good compensation after 4.Ne2.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 55.7% of the 5.7 million games and Black 39.5%. White does well below 2200, for example 56.1% against 40.0% under 1400, but from 2200 up the margin is much smaller, 47.1% against 43.6%. In 5,015 master games over the board White won 32.6%, Black 18.7%, and 48.7% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation
3…e5 scores best for Black: 46.8%, with Black winning 43.8% and White 50.2% of 730K games. The most played, 3…Nf6, scores 43.9% in 1.3M games, and 3…b5 scores lowest: 32.0%. Stockfish's first choice is also 3…e5.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation has lost ground since 2016: 0.19% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.33%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.33% | 116,446 |
| 2017 | 0.28% | 154,795 |
| 2018 | 0.25% | 195,698 |
| 2019 | 0.24% | 301,834 |
| 2020 | 0.24% | 713,381 |
| 2021 | 0.24% | 934,486 |
| 2022 | 0.22% | 832,006 |
| 2023 | 0.21% | 779,031 |
| 2024 | 0.2% | 703,137 |
| 2025 | 0.19% | 643,075 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.19% | 203,687 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Variations (5)
- D27 Classical Defense, Russian Gambit 3…Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 c5 6. O-O a6 7. e4
- D20 Billinger Gambit 3…e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. Qb3 Qe7 6. a3
- D20 Christensen Gambit 3…e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. Qb3 Qe7 6. Nf3
- D20 Korchnoi Gambit 3…e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. Qb3 Qe7 6. Kf1
- D20 Novikov Gambit 3…e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. Qb3 Qe7 6. Nd2
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Queen's Gambit Accepted, version of 6 October 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation (D20)”. Lichess data as of 7 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-accepted-old-variation