Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Botvinnik Variation
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
313,274 games: White 47.0% / Draw 6.3% / Black 46.6%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 87,23687K | ||
| 50,90751K | ||
| 48,52349K | ||
| 45,00545K | ||
| 40,60841K | ||
| 27,34627K | ||
| 10,06410K | ||
| 971971 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 28, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.02 The position is about equal
Best play: 7... dxc4 8. Bxc4 h6 9. Bh4 b6 10. O-O Bb7 11. Bg3 c5 12. Rc1
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: White scores 51% under 1400, 50% at 2200 and up and 59% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 8,533 | |
| 1400–1799 | 103K | |
| 1800–2199 | 206K | |
| 2200 and up | 33K | |
| Masters, over the board | 321 |
Master games
- Mchedlishvili, M. – Duda, J.
- Tkachiev, V. – Zvjaginsev, V.
- Iturrizaga Bonelli, E. – Bruzon Batista, L.
- Petrosian, T. V. – Larsen, B.
- Graf, A. – Sulskis, S.
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 27, 2026
Overview
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Botvinnik Variation (ECO D60, Closed & Semi-Closed Games) is a declined gambit in the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 (7 moves).
In 313,274 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 47.0%, Black 46.6% and 6.3% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 7…dxc4, in 28% of those games.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
Write a description or report a mistake
How to play against the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Botvinnik Variation
7…a6 scores best for Black: 52.9%, with Black winning 49.6% and White 43.8% of 27K games. The most played, 7…dxc4, scores 52.1% in 87K games, and 7…c6 scores lowest: 47.0%. Stockfish's first choice is 7…dxc4.
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: Orthodox Defense, Botvinnik Variation has lost ground since 2016: 0.011% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.015% (its peak: 0.017% in 2018).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.015% | 5,375 |
| 2017 | 0.016% | 8,772 |
| 2018 | 0.017% | 13,197 |
| 2019 | 0.015% | 19,216 |
| 2020 | 0.014% | 41,518 |
| 2021 | 0.012% | 48,379 |
| 2022 | 0.011% | 43,062 |
| 2023 | 0.011% | 41,720 |
| 2024 | 0.011% | 38,541 |
| 2025 | 0.011% | 36,513 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.01% | 11,438 |
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
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Botvinnik Variation (D60)”. Lichess data as of 28 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-orthodox-defense-botvinnik-variation