Tree path 5 levels Queen's Pawn Game › Queen's Gambit › Queen's Gambit Declined › Queen's Knight Variation › Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense
- Chess Codex
- Queen's Pawn Game D00
- Queen's Gambit D06
- Queen's Gambit Declined D30
- Queen's Knight Variation D31
- Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense D35 you are here
Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense
Overview
Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO D35, Closed & Semi-Closed Games). It trades material for attacking chances — a classic trade-off that has fascinated players from the Romantic era to modern correspondence chess.
The Closed & Semi-Closed Games group covers closed and semi-closed games — 1.d4 systems characterised by long strategic manoeuvring rather than early tactics.
It begins with 6 plies and takes 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 to reach the canonical position.
The line refines Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation, which traces back to the root opening Queen's Pawn Game.
The line has 7 documented children — Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Orthodox Defense, Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, and others being widely played.
Counted recursively, this branch covers 35 sub-variations at all depths.
Explore the position on the interactive board, study its real-world results from Lichess, and challenge the engine when you are ready.
- ECO code
- D35
- Group
- Closed & Semi-Closed Games (D)
- Plies
- 6
- Direct variations
- 7
- Total in subtree
- 35
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
29,383,349 games · White 50.7% / Draw 5.5% / Black 43.8%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Bg5 | 9,269,567 | |
| Nf3 | 8,452,416 | |
| cxd5 | 5,484,228 | |
| e3 | 2,531,018 | |
| Bf4 | 1,704,401 | |
| a3 | 589,198 | |
| f3 | 347,440 | |
| g3 | 307,967 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:30:30
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Variations (7)
- D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Orthodox Defense
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation
- D41 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Kmoch Variation
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation
- D41 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, San Sebastian Variation
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Symmetrical Variation
Show all 35 sub-variations (full subtree)
- D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack 7-ply
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Orthodox Defense 12-ply
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation 7-ply
- D41 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Kmoch Variation 21-ply
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation 9-ply
- D41 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, San Sebastian Variation 18-ply
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Symmetrical Variation 14-ply
- D53 Queen's Gambit Declined 8-ply
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Been-Koomen Variation 8-ply
- D51 Knight Defense 8-ply
- D66 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Fianchetto Variation 18-ply
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Levenfish Variation 19-ply
- D53 Queen's Gambit Declined 9-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Alekhine Variation 11-ply
- D57 Lasker Defense, Bernstein Variation, Mar del Plata Gambit 24-ply
- D56 Lasker Defense, Russian Variation 26-ply
- D53 Modern Variation, Heral Variation 9-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense 9-ply
- D66 Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line 15-ply
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Pseudo-Tarrasch Variation 9-ply
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Pseudo-Tarrasch Variation, Primitive Pillsbury Variation 11-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Rochlin Variation 13-ply
- D50 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Krause Variation 15-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Manhattan Variation 10-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Knight Defense 10-ply
- D67 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Capablanca System 18-ply
- D50 Canal Variation 10-ply
- D52 Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Argentine Variation 17-ply
- D52 Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense, Capablanca Variation 13-ply
- D51 Queen's Gambit Declined: Capablanca Variation, Anti-Cambridge Springs Variation 11-ply
- D67 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line 20-ply
- D67 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Alekhine Variation 21-ply
- D67 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line 21-ply
- D68 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation 24-ply
- D69 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation 28-ply