Playing the standard Queen's pawn formation controlling the center.
Black's options are still many, but likely to be a King's Indian or Grunfeld Defence, but possible is a transposition into the Dutch Defense.
| Game | Result | Year |
| Ding Liren (2806) vs Carlsen, M. (2864) | 1/2-1/2 | 2022 |
| Carlsen, M. (2872) vs Gelfand, B. (2777) | 1-0 | 2014 |
| Giri, A. (2784) vs Carlsen, M. (2862) | 1/2-1/2 | 2015 |
| Carlsen, Magnus (2815) vs Aronian, Levon (2808) | 1/2-1/2 | 2011 |
| Mamedyarov, S. (2762) vs Carlsen, M. (2855) | 1/2-1/2 | 2021 |
| Ding Liren (2774) vs Carlsen, M. (2837) | 0-1 | 2017 |
| Aronian, Levon (2815) vs Radjabov, Teimour (2793) | 1/2-1/2 | 2012 |
| Nakamura, Hi (2787) vs So, W. (2773) | 1-0 | 2016 |
| Nakamura, Hi (2777) vs Vachier Lagrave, M. (2779) | 1-0 | 2018 |
| Anand, Viswanathan (2801) vs Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2752) | 1-0 | 2007 |