Queen's Pawn Opening

1. d4 is the Queen's pawn opening. With 1. d4 White looks to take over control of the centre. The pawn directly controls the c5 and e5 squares, and White's queen now 'sees' the d4 square. 1. d4 is also a developing move in that it opens a diagonal for the queen's bishop to venture into the game later.

1. d4 is the second most common first move, after 1. e4. As the d4 pawn is already supported by the queen, the opening moves of Queen's Pawn games tend to be less forcing than King's Pawn games. This leads, in general, to games that are more closed and positional than open and tactical. 1. d4 is aimed at slowing down Black's development rather than accelerating White's.

If allowed, White could play 2. e4 next and achieve a big, two-pawn centre, and develop comfortably in all the space that affords them. Therefore a priority for Black is to prevent this.

The chief approach to preventing 2. e4 is to control the e4 square.

1...d5, the Closed game, is the classical approach. It controls the c4 and e4 squares, and so if White does play 2. e4, they at least cannot keep the pawn there. 1...d5 also prevents White from pushing their d4 pawn to d5, and so secures some space for Black to develop. Additionally, like 1. d4 for White, 1...d5 helps Black to develop by releasing their queenside bishop. The most common continuation is 2. c4, the Queen's gambit, the champagne and caviar of White openings. 1...d5 is the most common at the club level and the second most common reply in tournament games.^[1]

1...Nf6, the Indian defence, controls e4 while developing a knight. This is a more flexible response: Black may yet commit a pawn to the centre, like ...d5 to transpose into classical lines, or they may play in a hypermodern style where they control the centre from afar with their pieces. 1...Nf6 is the mainline today.^[2]

1...f5, the Dutch defence, controls e4 with a flank pawn. Black acts on the principle that trading an important central pawn for one of their more peripheral pawns would be good for them. Black can develop their g8 knight behind f pawn, and can create a robust pawn structure with e6 and d5 (the Stonewall set-up) or d6 and g6 (fianchettoing the bishop, the Leningrad). The Dutch is a minor sideline. Advancing one's f-pawn while one's king is still in the centre isn't for the faint of heart: an example trap that exploits the weak e8-to-h5 diagonal is: 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 (to hold onto the pawn) 4. Bg5 d5?? 5. Bxf6 exf6 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qxd5 Qxd5 8. Nxd5 (forking the f6 and c7 pawns).

Another approach to preventing White from attaining the two-pawn centre is to attack d4.

1...e5 is the Englund gambit. It offers White a pawn to deflect their pawn away from d4. This gambit is considered unsound, but it conceals many traps and has some success as a club-level line. If White prioritises their development over holding onto the pawn, they will enjoy a comfortable edge.

1...c5 is the Old Benoni. It offers a less valuable flank pawn for their central d4 pawn. If they accept it, Black can easily recover it and enjoy having two central pawns to White's one. However, White is not compelled to accept the pawn: the mainline is 2. d5. It results in closed positions where White has more space.

Alternatively, Black can allow White to play 2. e4 for now and look to undermine it later. Essentially Black gives White the option of transposing into an e4 opening (that Black hopes to be more familiar with than White). It's a curious fact that in practice White usually declines to play e4 right away even if allowed to do so, instead choosing to keep things in conventional Queen's pawn opening territory.

1...e6, the Horwitz defence, is the chief alternative to 1. d4 or 1. Nf6. This is essentially a transpositional trick: it invites White to play 2. e4 and transposes into the French defence after 2...d5, which happens about one in ten games. If Black plays the French against 1. e4, then this is a way to move to more familiar territory. If White chooses to stay in 1. d4 territory with 2. c4 instead, Black can transpose into a Queen's gambit declined (with 2...d5), a Dutch (2...f5), or a Nimzo-Indian/Bogo-Indian with 2...Nf6.

Similar approaches offering transposition into an e4 opening include:

• 1...c6: after 2. e4 d5, the game transposes to a Caro-Kann. Otherwise, White can play 2. c4 and the game becomes a Slav after 2...d5.
  • 1...Na6?! is a vanishingly rare move that nonetheless has a name, the Australian defence, which can transpose into the De Bruycker variation of the Caro-Kann after 2. e4 c6.
• 1...Nc6, the eccentric Mikenas defence, invites 2. e4 and transposition into a Nimzowitsch defence, but 2. Nf3, 2. c4, or 2. d5 chasing the knight away are all more popular.
• 1...b6, the English defence, prepares a queenside fianchetto. After 2. e4 it transposes to an Owen's defence, otherwise after 2. c4 Bb7 controls e4 and the game can have its own character where Black plays e6 and f5: 3. Nc3 e6 4. a3 f5 5. Nf3 Nf6.
• 1...d6 offering transposition into a Pirc defence after 2. e4, or if 2. c4 Black has prepared 2...e5, known as the Rat defence.
• 1...g6, preparing a kingside fianchetto and offers to transpose into a Modern defence.

An outlier is 1...b5!?, the Polish defence. Black both allows White to play 2. e4 and discourages 2. c4, therefore White is doubly encouraged to follow with 2. e4 and it is the main move. After 2. e4 Bb7, the trade of pawns 3. Bxb5 Bxe4 is the Spassky gambit. More common is 3. Bd3 to defend the pawn.

It is not so easy to lose a pawn on the first move of the game, but it is possible. The Benoni, 1...c5, (see above) offers a pawn but if taken it can easily be recovered. The Englund gambit 1...e5?! (above) is also unsound, but affords Black practical chances at club level.^[3] If Black is determined to lose a pawn then the third option is 1...g5?!.

1...g5?! is the Borg gambit. Black gives up a pawn immediately (2. Bxg5). If Black is careless this can lead to a very quick checkmate (2...f6? 3. e4 fxg5?? 4. Qh5#). Otherwise, play continues 2...Bg7 3. e6 and Black's "plan" is to break on c5 quickly and hope to exploit White's queenside, which can no longer be defended by White's bishop. As an example: 3...c5 4. c3 (if 4. dxc5? Bxb2!) cxd4 5. cxd4?? Qa5+! 6. Nc3 Qxg5.

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. d4

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Approximate chances*

White win 38%, Draw 33%, Black win 29%.

Estimated next move popularity

Nf6 52%, d5 28%, e6 6%, g6 3%, d6 3%, f5 3%, c5 2%. Other moves 1% or less.

*May vary according to rating, higher rating groups tend toward draws at higher rates than others

Wikipedia has related information at Queen's Pawn Game

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.