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Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4)
How do Queen's Gambit games actually end? Across 154,562 Lichess games that reached the position after 1.d4 d5 2.c4, White won 54.6%, 4.8% were drawn and Black won 40.7%. Below: the main line move by move, the most played continuations (the favorite is 2...e6), the rating effect and the opening's history.
The main line, move by move
| Move | Position name | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.d4 | Queen's Pawn Game | 697,933 | 50.4% | 4.7% | 44.9% |
| 1...d5 | Queen's Pawn Game | 292,120 | 52.6% | 4.8% | 42.5% |
| 2.c4 | Queen's Gambit | 154,562 | 54.6% | 4.8% | 40.7% |
| 2...e6 | Queen's Gambit Declined | 45,803 | 52.1% | 5.4% | 42.6% |
| 3.Nc3 | Queen's Gambit Declined: Queen's Knight Variation | 28,986 | 53.1% | 5.3% | 41.6% |
| 3...Nf6 | Queen's Gambit Declined: Normal Defense | 17,381 | 51.8% | 5.6% | 42.7% |
The 5 most common continuations (for Black)
| Move | Variation | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2...e6 | Queen's Gambit Declined | 45,803 | 52.1% | 5.4% | 42.6% |
| 2...c6 | Slav Defense | 41,842 | 51.3% | 5.1% | 43.6% |
| 2...dxc4 | Queen's Gambit Accepted | 30,642 | 60.5% | 4.2% | 35.4% |
| 2...Nf6 | - | 17,070 | 58.9% | 4.1% | 37.0% |
| 2...e5 | - | 6,366 | 50.0% | 4.4% | 45.6% |
How rating changes the same position
| Rating band (average of the pair) | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600-1799 | 91,435 | 55.3% | 4.2% | 40.5% |
| 2200-2499 | 2,269 | 49.8% | 7.2% | 43.0% |
The story of the opening
The Queen's Gambit appears in the Göttingen manuscript from the late 15th century, making it one of the oldest documented moves of modern chess. The name deceives twice: it is not quite a gambit, since White regains the c4 pawn at will, and no queen is sacrificed. It is the classical way to fight for the center after 1.d4: offer the wing pawn to deflect Black's central one.
It was the backbone of the 1927 World Championship match, in which Capablanca and Alekhine repeated it in nearly all 34 games. And it gained pop culture life in 2020, when the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit carried the opening's name to millions who had never pushed a pawn, driving a measurable boom of new players on online platforms, Lichess included.
Compare it with every other opening in the opening statistics archive, or visit its neighbors: Slav Defense and Queen's Gambit Declined. Nerd aside: chess notation is a 64 square code, cousin to the ones living next door, like binary and Morse.
Source: the Lichess open game database (database.lichess.org, CC0 data), months 2014-06, 2015-01, 2016-01, snapshot of 2026-07-09: blitz, rapid and classical games with the players' average rating between 1600 and 2199, aggregated by move sequence. Variation names and ECO codes: lichess-org/chess-openings (CC0).
Last updated: · Methodology and sources