Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit is a chess opening which starts with 1.d4 d5 2.c4. It is not really a gambit, because the pawn taken cannot be held. For example (simplest line):

1.d4 d5

2.c4 dxc4

3.e3 b5

4.a4 c6

5.axb5 cxb5

6.Qf3 and wins.

• 2...dxc4 is the Queen's Gambit Accepted. 5085 games in database.
• 2...e6 is the Queen's Gambit Declined. 14,635 games.
• 2...c6 is the Slav defence. 17,801 games.
• 2...Nc6 is Chigorin's defence. 836 games.

Queen's Gambit Accepted

The QGA

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

position after 10...Qc7

Since the pawn can't be kept, Black (by taking the c-pawn) has given up the centre. The standard strategy then is for Black to mount a counter-attack on the White centre.

1.d4 d5

2.c4 dxc4

3.Nf3 Nf6

4.e3 e6

5.Bxc4 c5

6.0-0 a6

7.Qe2 b5

8.Bb3 Bb7

9.Rd1 Nbd7

10.Nc3 Qc7/Qb8/Qb6 (alternates)

Now the white centre is balanced by the black counter-attack.

References

The English Wikibooks has more information on:

Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...d5/2. c4