Openings › Queen's Gambit Declined
How common by level
Queen's Gambit Declined: Win Rate by Lichess Rating
Queen's Gambit Declined · 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 · CC0 name list
At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), Black scored 46.6% in 22,695 Queen's Gambit Declined games (±0.6; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).
Black won 44.7% of them, White won 51.6%, and 3.7% were drawn.
Black scores below 50% at this level (outside the margin)
In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, Black scored 46.6% (±0.6) with the Queen's Gambit Declined in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (22,695 games). Observed results, not causation.
Data period: games from 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026 (sample of the Lichess open database) · Page updated: 9 Oct 2026
1.8%
of rated games at Lichess rating 1800–2099 reached the Queen's Gambit Declined · 23,576 of 1,329,701 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample
Under 1200: 0.6%. At 1800–2099: 1.8%. 3.1× as common at 1800–2099 as under 1200.
At a glance
- In this sample, White's score ranged from 52.9% (1800–2099) to 54.5% (Under 1200).
- Treat this spread with caution: the margins are approximate (see How it works).
- It appeared most often in the 1800–2099 group (1.8% of that group's games).
- Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (6.8%).
These are observed results for the selected games (rated, players within 200 rating points of each other). They describe what happened — they do not prove the opening caused the result.
Results by Lichess rating level
Each row shows how the Queen's Gambit Declined games at one rating level ended: White wins, draws and Black wins, across all time controls combined. Rating level is the average Lichess rating of both players.
White won drawn Black won. Queen's Gambit Declined — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).
"White's score" = wins + half of draws. "±" is an approximate 95% margin based only on the number of games. It does not cover sampling bias or related games (the same players appear many times), so real uncertainty is larger. "How common" = share of all sampled games at that level that reached this position. Ratings are Lichess ratings; they are not interchangeable with Chess.com or FIDE ratings.
Compare it with another choice from the same position, at the Lichess level and time control you choose: Compare in Find Your Opening (the comparison needs JavaScript)
Results by time control
Each row shows how the Queen's Gambit Declined games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.
| Time control | Games | White wins | Draws | Black wins | White's score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullet | 26,685 | 52.0% | 3.1% | 44.9% | 53.5% |
| Blitz | 37,253 | 50.9% | 5.2% | 44.0% | 53.4% |
| Rapid | 10,207 | 50.3% | 5.6% | 44.1% | 53.1% |
| Classical | 394 | 45.7% | 6.1% | 48.2% | 48.7% |
This table and the rating rows are separate summaries: rating levels are not split by time control here, and time controls are not split by rating. Observed results only; approximate uncertainty applies as above.
Most played replies for White at each level
Top replies with at least 150 games. "Score" is White's score after that reply (wins + half of draws). These comparisons alone can't show that one reply is reliably better — the margins are approximate and stronger or weaker players may prefer different replies.
| Rating level | Reply · share · games · score |
|---|---|
| Under 1200 |
3.Nc3 ·44.4% · 2,046 · 53.7% ±2.1 3.cxd5 ·15.5% · 712 · 53.7% ±3.6 3.Nf3 ·15.3% · 704 · 56.7% ±3.6 |
| 1200–1499 |
3.Nc3 ·51.4% · 6,214 · 53.3% ±1.2 3.Nf3 ·15.5% · 1,869 · 55.7% ±2.2 3.cxd5 ·12.2% · 1,471 · 52.1% ±2.5 |
| 1500–1799 |
3.Nc3 ·58.1% · 13,186 · 53.1% ±0.8 3.Nf3 ·14.8% · 3,364 · 54.0% ±1.6 3.cxd5 ·9.6% · 2,175 · 54.8% ±2.1 |
| 1800–2099 |
3.Nc3 ·62.6% · 14,751 · 52.8% ±0.8 3.Nf3 ·17.2% · 4,061 · 54.4% ±1.5 3.cxd5 ·8.5% · 2,000 · 53.0% ±2.1 |
| 2100+ |
3.Nc3 ·60.5% · 7,003 · 53.0% ±1.1 3.Nf3 ·25.0% · 2,898 · 54.7% ±1.7 3.cxd5 ·8.3% · 956 · 54.0% ±3.1 |
Up next: related positions with a page
- Earlier position: Queen's Gambit 1.d4 d5 2.c4
- Related line: 1.d4 Nf6 (Indian Defense)
- Related line: 1.d4 e6 (Horwitz Defense)
- Related line: 1.d4 e5 (Englund Gambit)
- Related line: 1.d4 g6 (Queen's Pawn Game: Modern Defense)
- Related line: 1.d4 c5 (Benoni Defense: Old Benoni)
| Opening | Lichess rating level | Games | Black's score |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs Slav Defense 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 | 1500–1799 | 16,389 | 47.3% ±0.7 |
Each row is a separate page with its own games. A difference smaller than the two margins combined is no clear difference. Observed results, not causation.
Deeper positions with this name
The free opening list gives the name Queen's Gambit Declined to 8 deeper positions on this line as well. This page counts the first one; games in the 12-month sample that reached each deeper one:
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7: 6,589 games
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3: 5,045 games
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bg5 Be7: 853 games
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e4: 362 games
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O: 350 games
Queen's Gambit Declined in official Lichess broadcasts: 80 games across the 10 events of the Weekly chess roundup, 19–25 Oct 2026 (Lichess official broadcasts, CC BY-SA 4.0).
Download these numbers: Queen's Gambit Declined (CSV), released under CC0. For move-by-move exploration with your own filters, see the free Lichess opening explorer. This independent page lists each rating level and each time control in its own row for comparison.
- Mate in one from games that began with the Queen's Gambit Declined: Black to move (exercise m1-2e9854753d), from a Lichess game of Sep 2026 · Black to move (exercise m1-b98aa067ac), from a Lichess game of Nov 2025
- Insight pages whose tables include the Queen's Gambit Declined: Most drawish openings
- How the numbers on this page are made: How it works