Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense
D07 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4
White scores 54.4% here across 585 club games — but the 9.4% who answer e3 score 48.2%, 6 points worse.
What White actually plays here
Across 585 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 54.4% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nc3 | 252 | 43.1% | 55.8% | holds up |
| Nf3 | 138 | 23.6% | 55.8% | holds up |
| cxd5 | 116 | 19.8% | 52.2% | holds up |
| e3 | 55 | 9.4% | 48.2% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.