Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense
The Baltic Defense is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5, an unusual way to decline the Queen's Gambit. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
4,000,612 games: White 52.7% / Draw 4.4% / Black 42.9%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 2,478,1642.5M | ||
| 571,742572K | ||
| 384,682385K | ||
| 294,267294K | ||
| Queen Attack | 116,195116K | |
| 69,23769K | ||
| 24,80325K | ||
| 21,80822K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.94 White is better
Best play: 3. cxd5 Bxb1 4. Rxb1 Qxd5 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. a3 Nbd7 7. g3 c5
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 better this line does for Black: Black scores 46% under 1400, 50% at 2200 and up and 38% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 1.1M | |
| 1400–1799 | 3.6M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.8M | |
| 2200 and up | 108K | |
| Masters, over the board | 1,072 |
Master games
- Nogueiras Santiago, J. – Shirov, A.
- Nabaty, T. – Alterman, B.
- Vitiugov, N. – Bezgodov, A.
- Dreev, A. – Malaniuk, V. P.
- Portisch, L. – Malaniuk, V. P.
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 Baltic Defense is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5, an unusual way to decline the Queen's Gambit. It is also called the Grau Defense or the Sahovic Defense, and its ECO code is D06. In most lines of the Queen's Gambit Declined Black struggles to develop the light-squared bishop; the Baltic solves that at once by bringing the bishop out on move two.
The idea
Developing the bishop first has a cost: the bishop on f5 is exposed to e2–e4, and the b7-pawn loses a defender. If Black takes back on d5 with the queen at the wrong moment, White gains time: after 3.cxd5 Qxd5? 4.Nc3 Qa5 5.Bd2, followed by 6.e4 hitting the bishop, White has a strong advantage.
Main lines
White has several replies, including 3.Nf3, 3.cxd5, 3.Qb3 and 3.Nc3.
- 3.Nf3 e6, and the white queen often comes to b3 to hit b7, met by ...Nc6: 4.Qb3 Nc6, or 4.e3 Nf6 5.Qb3 Nc6, or 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Qb3 Nc6.
- 3.cxd5 Bxb1 4.Qa4+ Qd7 5.Qxd7+ Nxd7 6.Rxb1 Ngf6 7.Nf3. Black can also play 4...c6 5.dxc6 Nxc6, the Argentinian Gambit.
- 3.Qb3, the Queen Attack. John L. Watson recommends 3...e5 4.Qxb7 Nd7 5.Nc3 exd4 6.Nxd5 Bd6 7.Nf3.
- 3.Nc3 e6 4.Qb3 Nc6. Here 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Qxd5? is a mistake because of 6...Nxd4.
Who plays it
The Baltic has never been widely accepted among masters, but world-class grandmasters have used it, including Paul Keres and Alexei Shirov.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 52.7% of the 4 million games and Black 42.9%. Below 2200 the split hardly changes with rating: 52.8% against 43.9% under 1400, and 53.3% against 42.0% between 1800 and 2199. From 2200 up the two sides are level, 46.3% against 46.2%. In 1,072 master games over the board White won 43.8%, Black only 19.2%, and 36.9% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense
3. cxd5 scores best for White: 58.5%, with White winning 56.4% and Black 39.4% of 572K games. The most played, 3. Nc3, scores 54.4% in 2.5M games, and 3. e3 scores lowest: 52.7%. Stockfish's first choice is also 3. cxd5.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White'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 Declined: Baltic Defense has stayed between 0.14% and 0.16% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (0.16% in 2025).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.14% | 50,792 |
| 2017 | 0.14% | 78,404 |
| 2018 | 0.14% | 110,482 |
| 2019 | 0.15% | 187,508 |
| 2020 | 0.14% | 419,648 |
| 2021 | 0.15% | 596,073 |
| 2022 | 0.16% | 612,903 |
| 2023 | 0.16% | 607,639 |
| 2024 | 0.16% | 569,994 |
| 2025 | 0.16% | 538,956 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.15% | 166,433 |
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 (4)
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Baltic Defense, version of 9 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 Declined: Baltic Defense (D06)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-baltic-defense