Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...d5/2. exd5/2...Qxd5

Black retakes the pawn immediately.

3. Nc3 is White's usual continuation^[1]. White develops a knight tempo on the queen, and Black must pick a safe square to where their queen will be safe: typically Qa5 or Qd8.

3. Nf3 is also tried. White's idea is to delay playing Nc3, realising that they may pick up the tempo on Black's queen later. Without playing Nc3 yet, White has the idea of taking over the queenside by putting both c and d pawns in the centre (Nc3 would obstruct the c pawn's way to c4). 3...Bg4 is the typical move, then 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d4 O-O-O.

3. d4 first is similar to the 3. Nf3 lines, transposing after 3...Nc6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 O-O-O. White keeps the option of c4.

3. c4? immediately may look like it kicks Black's queen and allows White to develop Nc3 only after getting the c-pawn out of the way--however 3...Qe4+ wins Black a pawn (4. Ne2 Qxc4, or 4. Be2 Qxg2) or a favourable queen trade.

On the subject of bad moves, the worst possible move here is 3. Ke2??, leading to a three turn checkmate (3...Qe4#).

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5

Wikipedia has related information at Template:Sec link auto.

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