Queen's Gambit

The Queen's gambit is one of the oldest openings in chess. White offers a pawn in order to gain control of the centre. This opening is very popular among modern players and is one of the best openings for 1. d4.

2...dxc4, accepting the gambit, is playable. Black is up a pawn but only temporarily, as it turns out it's impractical for Black to hold onto it. By accepting the gambit Black loses control of e4. White can reclaim the gambitted pawn and take a bigger share of the centre with 3. e4, discovering an attack on c4. The mainline however is 3. Nf3, seeking to prevent ...e5 and recovering the pawn later after 3...Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4.

Most Black players choose to decline the gambit.

If Black allows White to play 3. cxd5, they would like, ideally, to retake with a pawn so as to keep a pawn on d5, controlling e4. Therefore the most common ways of declining are 2...e6, the Queen's gambit declined, or 2...c6, the Slav defence.

2...Nf6, the Marshall defence, prepares to retake on d5 with the knight, however Black loses time after 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. e4! Nf6. Instead, 3...c6?!, the tricky Tan gambit, may offer more practical success.

Alternatively, Black may rely on the fact that the d5 pawn is already defended by the queen and prioritise developing their other pieces instead:

The exotic 2...Nc6, the Chigorin defence, develops a knight and intends to answer cxd5 with ...Qxd5 with added pressure on d4.

The eccentric 2...Bf5?, the Baltic defence, is thought worse for Black. If 3. cxd5 Qxd5 White can gain time on the queen and bishop: 4. Nc3 Qd7 5. e4 Bg6±. The main line is to first give up one's bishop for a knight, so that one's queen can come out more safely: 3. cxd5 Bxb1! 4. Rxb1 Qxd5±.

Finally Black may choose to derail White's plans with a gambit of their own, the most practical of which are:

• The Albin countergambit, 2...e5: after 3. dxe5 d4 Black's pawn is an advanced wedge in White's territory and they get some attacking chances.
• The Austrian defence, 2...c5. After 3. cxd5, 3...Qxd5 or 3...Nf6 may be played.

Dubious is 2...b5?!, the Zilbermints gambit.

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

1. d4 d5 2. c4

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Wikipedia has related information at Queen's Gambit

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

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