D35

Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation

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Statistics from Lichess

3,928,630 games: White 52.0% / Draw 6.0% / Black 42.0%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	1,883,2781.9M
	1,166,2141.2M
	305,250305K
	256,571257K
	136,976137K
	50,09350K
	34,64835K
	26,86927K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 7, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.18 The position is about equal

Best play: 5... c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qb3 Qb6 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. Nf3 Nd7 10. Be2

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 White: White scores 53% under 1400, 56% at 2200 and up and 60% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	259K
1400–1799	1.1M
1800–2199	2.3M
2200 and up	868K
Masters, over the board	17K

Master games

Carlsen, M. – Kramnik, V. 1–0, 2016
Aronian, L. – Carlsen, M. ½–½, 2015
Carlsen, M. – Nepomniachtchi, I. 0–1, 2021
Carlsen, M. – Nepomniachtchi, I. 0–1, 2021
Grischuk, A. – Carlsen, M. ½–½, 2021

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

Overview

Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation (ECO D35, Closed & Semi-Closed Games) is a declined gambit in the Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 (5 moves).

In 3,928,630 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 52.0%, Black 42.0% and 6.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…Be7, in 48% of those games.

It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Carlsen Variation and Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Chameleon Variation. In all, 7 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation

5…c6 scores best for Black: 46.4%, with Black winning 43.1% and White 50.4% of 1.2M games. The most played, 5…Be7, scores 44.6% in 1.9M games, and 5…Bb4 scores lowest: 43.0%. Stockfish's first choice is also 5…c6.

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 Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation peaked in 2018 at 0.18% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.16% in 2025.

0.13%0.16%0.18%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.13%	48,147
2017	0.15%	84,273
2018	0.18%	142,582
2019	0.16%	202,829
2020	0.16%	480,371
2021	0.14%	545,232
2022	0.14%	540,256
2023	0.15%	561,622
2024	0.15%	535,760
2025	0.16%	542,409
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.16%	179,070

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 (3)

All 7 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Positional Variation (D35)”. Lichess data as of 7 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-exchange-variation-positional-variation