Queen's Gambit Declined:Chigorin Defense

Named after Mikhail Chigorin: Black develops the queen’s knight to c6, blocking the c-pawn but gaining quick piece play.

It is reached after 4 moves: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

White is to move and has 30 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 817,517 different games. Those games reach 270,962 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 16 further lines after this position, such as Exchange Variation (3. cxd5 Qxd5) and Main Line (3. Nf3 Bg4).

The same moves can be played in 4 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. c4 d5 2. d4 Nc6, which starts as the English Opening.