The Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit

Important variations are animated at the bottom of the page.

The most variations come from the queen's gambit. There are over 30 of them. This section will go over the point of the queen's gambit, the hidden attacks, how to hold onto your pawn, and what we think is the best response. The main line of the queen's gambit is 1. d4, d5 2. c4, pxp 3. e4.

The Queen's Gambit Accepted

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The queen's gambit is as shown on the left. Statistically, this opening has a higher win percentage out of every single opening. This is probably your best choice as white. The reason to have a pawn center is to make your development easy and the opponent's awkward. That is what the queen's gambit achieves. Another thing is that it immediately attacks the pawn that just took c4. However, white still loses a pawn, so black can attempt to hold on to the pawn. If you decide to do this, you must know about the hidden traps, and there are quite a few. For instance, e4 was just a trap. You could easily walk into it.

The Queen's Gambit e3 Trap

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You won't know what to do if you haven't seen this before. We will rewind a step. Instead of playing e4, white plays e3. This move is more passive, but it holds a major trap. Take a look for yourself. If black has never seen this before, he will probably push the b pawn to protect. 3...b5. This is a big mistake! You have just walked into the trap. After b5, 4. a4. If black goes 4... pxp, then 5. Qxp+, Bd7 6.Qxcp. So black has to defend it. How does he do it? If he plays a6, pxp, pxp, RxR and black is quite clearly losing. So instead, he moves 4...c6. This is also a losing position. 5. pxp, pxp 6. Qf3! You should reach a position like that on the bottom left in the next frame. Take a look!

The Queen's Gambit e3 Trap Semi-Final Position

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Now black is still in major trouble. His rook is trapped and he has no good way of defending it. His best choice is 6...Nc6 7. QxN+, Bd7 where he still loses a whole piece. So do not fall for the e3 trap!!! Why does it have to be e3? Well take a look. If white played e4, the pawn would be blocking the queen from the rook. So, the only good way to save the pawn (look at the diagram to the upper left) is to move Be6 which traps the e pawn. It does keep the pawn though. In a queen opening, the worst thing you can do is castle queenside. It is way too open even if this is not the layout.

The Attempted e5 Trap

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So if white plays e3, do not play b5. Play Be6. Now let's take a look at e4. In this case, if you want to hold on to the pawn, you must play 3...b5. If you play Be6, d5 kicks it off. What you need to watch out for is e5 after that. This leaves you open to the e3 trap. If white plays 4. e5, your best choice is to fianchetto: 4...Bb7. You cannot go wrong if you do that. You should reach a position identical to the one on the left. a5 is useless because it is safe to play c6 now. It also gives you the option now that you have fianchettoed to move a6 to protect, but c6 is better.

The Green Gambit

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You now know the point to the Queen's Gambit, the traps, and how to hold onto the pawn if you so wish to accept the gambit. However, there are so many variations on how to defend against it, we have a wide selection to choose from. We'll start off with the Green Gambit. This is one of my own variations which I created. It is for people uncomfortable with the queen opening. The line is 1. d4, e5 2. pxp, d6 3. pxp, Bxp. It isn't your best choice. You lose a pawn for it, but you don't have to deal with the d pawn anymore. On the plus side, black has a slight lead in development. He also has a piece ready to attack white's kingside, but this isn't nearly as effective here compared to the Bird's Opening. It is a bad opening no matter how you slice it, but it deals with some of the discomfort.

The Slav Defense

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The next thing that you can do is the Slav defense. It goes 1. d4, d5 2. c4, c6. It blocks your knight, but it can lead to some very interesting games. A common mistake by white is 3. Nc3. Then, it is good to play 3...pxp even with the e3 trap because it is a slightly different order. This is one of your best bets. One of your worst bets is 2...Nf6 because it just gives white the pawn center without the cost of a pawn.

The Nimzo Indian Defense

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The Nimzo Indian Defense or the Bogo Indian Defense are the best answers statistically. They are basically the same thing. 1. d4, Nf6 2. c4, e6 (Nimzo I D: 3. Nc3, Bb4) (Bogo I D: 3. Nf3, Bb4+) The only difference between the Bogo and the Nimzo Indian Defenses is which knight white decides to move. If he moves Nf3, it is Nimzo. If he moves Nc3, it is Bogo. The Nimzo looks like the board on the left.

The Budapest Gambit

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Also, there is the Budapest Gambit. This may very well be your best choice. You sacrifice a pawn, normally get it back, and open up the center. The position is shown on the left. The line goes: 1. d4, Nf6 2. c4, e5. After white takes the pawn, Ng4 is very threatening. Black can try a Fried Liver attack by moving Bc5 and can try to win the pawn back by Nc6. Ng4 is a very threatening move, though. It has some serious potential to do some major damage, or just simply win back the pawn. This isn't used commonly, so there are many bizarre variations, and if you play it against any intermediate player, he will have no idea what to do. If white declines the gambit and does something like e3, exchange your pawns, do a nimzo Indian attack (Bb4+), and castle or move out your queen to check. Black has a lot more options with this than with d5. For more Budapest Gambit info, click here. I use this every time as black against the queen's gambit and it doesn't often fail me.

The Dutch Defense Hopton Gambit

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This is one of the less popular defenses, and for good reason. The Dutch Defense's response to 1. d4 is 1...f5, like a reverse of the Sicilian Defense. This is quite simple to repel. As you should already know, moving the f pawn up 2 almost always requires a knight move right after it. This is the same with the Dutch Defense, so f5 will normally be followed by Nf6. It is easy to deteriorate this opening, though. I use a method called the Hopton Gambit. You don't actually sacrifice anything, but it is interesting. White plays 2. Bg5. If black tries to chase it away, he loses a pawn or the game. 2... h6 3. Bh4, g5 4. Bg3. Now you will notice that black's kingside is wrecked. Now there is one goal accomplished, but what is more interesting is if black plays 4...f4. Then, white's response is e3 winning the pawn. This forks a checkmate and the pawn. If black declines and plays 2...Nf6, white simply doubles f pawns by exchanging.

The Albin Counter-Gambit

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This is very fun to play on new people to the queen's gambit. It goes 1. d4, d5 2. c4, e5. This is like a reverse of the Falkbeer Counter-gambit. The main line goes 3. pxpe5, d4 4. e3, Bb4+ 5. Bd2, pxp 6. BxB, pxp+ 7. Kxp, Qh4+. This is an extremely hard line to remember and play, but black gets white's queen no matter how he plays it if you get this far. This is animated below so that you can see it. This can be fun to play if the other player has seen it, too. It generally leads to more interesting positions and a more fun game. Plus, it is a challenge for both players to see if you can hold onto your pieces and take the opponent's.

The Benko Gambit

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This is a very fun opening to play for both white and black. Black has many attacks going at once, but if you look at them in the right way, you can deflect all of them. First of all, a king on f1 or sometimes f2 is just as good as a castled king, sometimes better. The line goes 1. d4, Nf6 2. c4, c5 3. d5, b5. You can see this on the left. Now, I generally accept the gambit because I see no reason not to. 4. pxp, a6. I take again normally, but an experienced player told me that it screws up his whole plan to push the pawn to b6. I disagree. 5. pxp, Bxp. The whole point of this gambit is that last move. Now they are normally happy because you can't play e4 because of the Bishop pin. If you like your king on f1 like I do, prepare to push at e4. Otherwise, a wise choice might be to fianchetto. There are too many variations to go on from here, but it blows open the queenside for an attack on both sides. Just watch out for traps, because there are a lot!!!

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Queen's Gambit
Properly Accepted

To view the animation, click a move, then use arrow keys or space bar.