Caissa Codex
D64

Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack

Chess diagram: Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack after 8. Qc2

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

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Statistics from Lichess

53,893 games: White 52.9% / Draw 7.0% / Black 40.1%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
18,45918K
10,07010K
7,6167,616
7,4837,483
5,3665,366
831831
745745
515515

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 31, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.19 The position is about equal

Best play: 8... h6 9. Bh4 Ne4 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Bd3 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 dxc4 13. Qxc4

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

Overview

Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack (ECO D64, Closed & Semi-Closed Games) is a declined gambit in the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2 (8 moves).

In 53,893 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 52.9%, Black 40.1% and 7.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 8…h6, in 34% of those games.

It continues into one named variation.

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How to play against the Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack

8…a6 scores best for Black: 45.8%, with Black winning 42.3% and White 50.7% of 7,616 games. The most played, 8…h6, scores 43.6% in 18K games, and 8…dxc4 scores lowest: 41.5%. Stockfish's first choice is 8…h6.

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

Variations (1)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 8. Qc2, the position after Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line also goes on to:

Transpositions

From here, a move transposes into another named line:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack (D64)”. Lichess data as of 31 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-orthodox-defense-rubinstein-attack

https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-orthodox-defense-rubinstein-attack