Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation
The Three Knights Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined is reached here by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3, the move order by which it is most often played. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
15,695,339 games: White 51.1% / Draw 5.8% / Black 43.1%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 4,501,0794.5M | ||
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense | 3,683,2943.7M | |
| Semi-Slav Defense | 2,331,1092.3M | |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense | 1,840,5951.8M | |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation | 742,539743K | |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation | 704,225704K | |
| 580,650581K | ||
| 370,375370K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.12 The position is about equal
Best play: 4... Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 c5 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3
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 54% both under 1400 and at 2200 and up, and 55% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 1.5M | |
| 1400–1799 | 6.3M | |
| 1800–2199 | 9.4M | |
| 2200 and up | 2.3M | |
| Masters, over the board | 79K |
Master games
- Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F.
- Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F.
- Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F.
- Carlsen, M. – Caruana, F.
- Aronian, L. – Carlsen, M.
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 Three Knights Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined is reached here by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3, the move order by which it is most often played. With 3.Nf3 White avoids the Nimzo-Indian Defense, and with ...Nf6 first Black avoids the Exchange Variation of the QGD. The same position arises from 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3.
Black's fourth move
- 4...Be7 is the classical choice. 5.Bg5 transposes to the traditional lines of the QGD, but White can avoid them, most notably with 5.Bf4, the Harrwitz Attack. With the bishop on f4 instead of g5, Black has fewer chances to exchange pieces with ...Ne4, as in the Lasker Defense, or to win the bishop pair. Peter Leko used it to beat Vladimir Kramnik in their 2004 World Championship match.
- 4...Bb4 is the Ragozin Defense.
- 4...c6 is the Semi-Slav Defense.
- 4...c5 is the Semi-Tarrasch Defense.
- 4...dxc4 is the Vienna Variation, whose main line continues 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5.
The Semi-Tarrasch endgame
An important line of the Semi-Tarrasch is the Endgame Line: 4...c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.e4 dxe4 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8. The queens come off much as in the Berlin endgame, and the position is drawish; Wesley So, Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen have used it when aiming for a draw.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 51.1% of the 15.7 million games and Black 43.1%, and the gap is about the same in every rating band. Masters draw most of their games: in 78,777 games over the board 57.1% were drawn, White won 26.2% and Black 16.7%.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights Variation
4…c5 (Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense) scores best for Black: 47.5%, with Black winning 44.3% and White 49.2% of 1.8M games. The most played, 4…Be7, scores 47.3% in 4.5M games, and 4…Bb4 scores lowest: 43.6%. Stockfish's first choice is 4…Bb4.
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: Three Knights Variation peaked in 2018 at 0.7% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.57% in 2025.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.56% | 200,004 |
| 2017 | 0.62% | 341,540 |
| 2018 | 0.7% | 548,688 |
| 2019 | 0.69% | 862,987 |
| 2020 | 0.65% | 1,916,618 |
| 2021 | 0.6% | 2,348,375 |
| 2022 | 0.61% | 2,273,532 |
| 2023 | 0.61% | 2,283,034 |
| 2024 | 0.58% | 2,077,792 |
| 2025 | 0.57% | 1,960,371 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.57% | 626,068 |
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 (11)
- D55 Anti-Tartakower Variation, Petrosian Variation 4…Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1 c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4
- D37 Barmen Variation 4…Nbd7
- D37 Harrwitz Attack 4…Be7 5. Bf4
- D37 Miles Variation 4…Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. Qc2
- D55 Modern Variation, Normal Line 4…Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3
- D55 Neo-Orthodox Variation, Main Line 4…Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3
- D38 Ragozin Defense 4…Bb4
- D40 Semi-Tarrasch Defense 4…c5
- D37 Three Knights, Vienna Variation 4…dxc4
- D44 Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Alatortsev System 4…c6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 Nd5
- D44 Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Szabo Variation 4…c6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. Qf3
Transpositions
All 42 named lines that continue from here
No line matches.
- D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Anti-Tartakower Variation, Petrosian Variation 11 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation 4 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack 5 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Miles Variation 6 moves
- D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Normal Line 6 moves
- D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation, Main Line 7 moves
- D38 Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defense 4 moves
- D40 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense 4 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Three Knights, Vienna Variation 4 moves
- D44 Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Alatortsev System 9 moves
- D44 Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation, Szabo Variation 11 moves
- D35 Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Sämisch Variation 6 moves
- D37 Main Line 7 moves
- D37 Two Knights Defense 6 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Knight Defense, Alekhine Gambit 6 moves
- D56 Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Teichmann Variation 9 moves
- D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Neo-Orthodox Variation 6 moves
- D60 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense 6 moves
- D38 Alekhine Variation 5 moves
- D39 Vienna Variation 5 moves
- D41 Semi-Tarrasch Defense 5 moves
- D58 Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense 7 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Vienna Variation, Quiet Variation 5 moves
- D38 Queen's Gambit Declined: Westphalian Variation 6 moves
- D55 Queen's Gambit Declined: Anti-Tartakower Variation 7 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack 10 moves
- D37 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack 10 moves
- D60 Botvinnik Variation 7 moves
- D63 Main Line 7 moves
- D61 Rubinstein Variation 7 moves
- D41 Endgame Variation 8 moves
- D41 Exchange Variation 6 moves
- D41 Pillsbury Variation 6 moves
- D63 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Henneberger Variation 7 moves
- D63 Main Line 7 moves
- D62 Flohr Line 8 moves
- D41 Exchange Variation 7 moves
- D42 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Main Line 7 moves
- D68 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation 13 moves
- D64 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rubinstein Attack 8 moves
- D63 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Swiss, Carlsbad Variation 8 moves
- D64 Rubinstein Attack 8 moves
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Queen's Gambit Declined, version of 26 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: Three Knights Variation (D37)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/queens-gambit-declined-three-knights-variation