Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation
Chess opening · ECO D02 · 4 half-moves
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6
The Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation is reached after 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6. It is White's move in the position shown.
It branches from the Queen's Pawn Game: Zukertort Variation with 2… Nf6.
How often it is played
The Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation and its variations appeared in 1.2% of games — 37,331 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 42 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 50%, 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 +0.33 — 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Pawn Game: London System, with e6 | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 | 0.30% |
| Indian Defense | 1. d4 Nf6 | 5.1% |
| Queen's Gambit | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 | 4.5% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Queen's Pawn Game: Colle System | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 | 0.49% |
| Queen's Pawn Game: London System | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 | 0.39% |
| Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg5 | 0.10% |
| Queen's Pawn Game: Symmetrical Variation, Pseudo-Catalan | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 | 0.09% |
| Semi-Slav Defense: Stonewall Defense | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Ne4 6. Bd3 f5 | 0.00% |
| Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Rauzer Variation | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Qb3 | 0.00% |
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