Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense
Chess opening · ECO D35 · 6 half-moves
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense is reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6. It is White's move in the position shown.
It branches from the Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation with 3… Nf6.
How often it is played
The Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense and its variations appeared in 0.28% of games — 8,549 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 142 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 51%, 4.6% were drawn and Black won 45%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.27 — a small edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-Slav Defense: Accelerated Move Order | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 | 0.18% |
| Slav Defense | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 | 1.3% |
| Queen's Gambit Accepted | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 | 0.80% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 | 0.09% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bf4 | 0.06% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Pillsbury Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5 | 0.02% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Orthodox Defense | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c6 | 0.01% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, San Sebastian Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Qa5 | 0.00% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Symmetrical Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O | 0.00% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Kmoch Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bb5 | 0.00% |
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