Opening family
Queen's Gambit Declined Lines and Variations
The Queen's Gambit Declined family contains 171 named lines in this opening book, spanning ECO D02 to D69. Use this page as the map, then open individual lines for exact move orders and diagrams.
How to study this family
White
White uses the c-pawn to challenge Black’s d5 pawn, then plays for space, piece activity, and pressure on the queenside.
Black
Black declines the pawn to keep a compact center and aims for freeing breaks such as ...c5 or ...e5.
Start with the shortest line, then branch to the variations that change the pawn structure or tactical target. Memorizing every branch before understanding the family plan is usually wasted work.
Main named lines
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Defense
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Zilbermints Gambit
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense
- D08 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit
- D30 · Queen's Gambit Declined
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Queen Attack
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense
- D31 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Attack, Salvio Countergambit
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Austrian Defense, Gusev Countergambit
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Marshall Defense, Tan Gambit
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Exchange Variation
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Lazard Gambit
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Main Line
- D07 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense, Tartakower Gambit
- D30 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Tarrasch Defense, Pseudo-Tarrasch
- D31 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Alapin Variation
- D31 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Charousek Variation
- D31 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Janowski Variation
- D35 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense
- D06 · Queen's Gambit Declined: Baltic Defense, Queen Attack Deferred
Deep theory branches
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Qc2 Nf6 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4 c5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Rfd1 Bd7 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Russian Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 13. Qb1 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 13. Qc2 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. cxd5 Nxc3 10. bxc3 exd5 11. Qb3 Rd8 12. c4 Be6 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Bernstein Variation, Mar del Plata Gambit
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O Nxc3 12. Rxc3 e5 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. Nf3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. cxd5 Nxc3 10. bxc3 exd5 11. Qb3 Qd6 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Lasker Defense, Bernstein Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 b6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Tartakower Defense
- 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 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense, Kmoch Variation
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1 c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Anti-Tartakower Variation, Petrosian Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. Ne4 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Alekhine Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. O-O — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Main Line
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Rc1 b6 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Tarrasch Defense, Stoltz Variation
- 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Nd5 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Bd3 Line
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Qc2 Re8 9. Nge2 Nf8 10. O-O-O — Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation, Chameleon Variation
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. Rd1 Qa5 10. a3 — Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack