Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation, Normal Line: what should White play?

In the Modern Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, White faces a classic central tension following Black's strike against the center. White's top engine recommendation is dxc5, which scores 54.2% across 87K recorded games and carries an evaluation of +0.46. Resolving the central tension immediately allows White to target Black's queenside structure while aiming for active piece play.

Resolving the Center with dxc5

Choosing dxc5 represents the second most common choice in this position, played in 26.6% of the 329,262 games recorded. By capturing on c5, White forces an immediate response in the center and avoids maintaining a double-pawn tension. The primary illustrative engine line continues dxc5 dxc4 Bxc4 Qxd1+ Rxd1 Bxc5, leading to an early queen trade where White holds a slight initiative in the endgame with active piece placement and open files for the rooks.

The Popularity of cxd5

While the engine slightly prefers resolving c5, the most common move in practice is cxd5, appearing in 61.5% of games (202K recorded) with an evaluation of +0.41 and a 52.2% score. This exchange frequently leads to open lines in the center. An illustrative continuation is cxd5 Nxd5 Bxe7 Qxe7 Nxd5 exd5, which trades pieces and leaves Black with an isolated queen's pawn on d5.

Positional Alternatives

White can also maintain the central tension without an immediate pawn capture. The natural developing move Rc1 was selected in 7.8% of games (26K recorded) with an evaluation of +0.31, anticipating the opening of the c-file with the illustrative continuation Rc1 cxd4 Nxd4 dxc4 Bxc4 Qa5. Slower prophylaxis such as a3 (+0.11, 2.4% of games) and h3 (+0.09, 1.7% of games) appears less frequently, each yielding slightly lower engine evaluations.