Queen's Gambit
Opening course for White · ECO D35
The oldest offer in chess, and the pawn comes back.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 is not really a gambit. Black can take the pawn, but he cannot keep it, and the price of trying is the whole centre. This course plays the Exchange Variation against the main declining move, which trades on d5 early and fixes a pawn structure White knows and Black usually does not: the minority attack, two pawns marching at three, aimed at one square. The same structure and the same plan come back against the Slav, so the work is done once and used twice. The Accepted gets the sharpest answer in the book, 3.e4, taking the entire centre while Black is still holding a pawn he will have to give back. What this course does not cover is 1...Nf6 and the Indian defences: those are a different opening, and you need a separate answer to them.
- Chapters
- 6
- Lines
- 16
- Traps
- 1
- Sources
- 8
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: The offer and the structure, against the main declining move, 2...e6.
Part of your daily work.
- Learn
- Walk the line with the coach, a note on the moves that need one.
- Recall
- Play it from memory. Learned lines come back on a schedule.
- Tempo
- The same line against the clock, for a score to beat.
- Off book
- The opponent leaves the book with a real move; Stockfish prices your answers.
Before the moves: the big ideas
The pawn is bait, not a gift
After 2...dxc4 Black owns a pawn on c4 and no way to hold it. Trying costs him tempo (...b5 and ...a6) and the centre, and White regains the material with e4 and Bxc4 while every white piece comes out with a job. Never chase the pawn back in the first three moves; take the centre and let it fall into your hand.
The Carlsbad structure is the course
Trade on d5 and the pawns lock into a shape: White has pawns on d4 and e3 against Black's on d5 and c6, and each side has a majority on the opposite wing. That structure tells you where to play without any memorised moves. White works the queenside with b4 and b5; Black plays in the centre and at the king. Learn the structure once and the Exchange Slav is the same lesson.
b4 and b5, two against three
The minority attack sounds backwards: send fewer pawns at more. The point is not to win material but to leave Black with a weakness that cannot move. After b5, whatever Black chooses gives you a target for the rest of the game, either an isolated pawn on d5 or a backward pawn on c6 with your rooks already on the file.
Watch h7, and watch your own h2
The bishop on d3 with the queen behind it is the standard attacking battery in these positions, and it is why Black spends moves putting a knight back on f8. It cuts both ways: with his bishop on d6 aiming at h2, ...Bxh2+ and ...Ng4+ are real enough that strong players slip in Kh1 before anything else goes wrong.
The lines, chapter by chapter
In learning order. The coach serves review one line a day; open any line yourself when you want it now.
Start Here: The Offer
1 line
One line, no theory to memorise. It shows the pawn offer, the trade that defines the course, and the structure everything else hangs on.
The Exchange Variation and the Minority Attack
4 lines
White's main weapon, and the reason this course exists. The pieces go to the same squares almost every game; what you are really learning is where the pawns go and why.
Two Accidents in the Exchange
2 lines
One where Black's natural setup loses a pawn on the spot, and one where White's natural move loses a piece. Both come up at club level far more often than the theory in the last chapter.
When Black Takes: 2...dxc4
3 lines
The Queen's Gambit Accepted. Black cannot hold the pawn, so this chapter is about taking the whole centre while he is busy trying.
The Slav: 2...c6
3 lines
Black's other main defence, and the reason the Exchange is worth learning properly. Trading on d5 here reaches a mirror-image structure where you already know the plans.
The Rarer Defences
3 lines
Three answers you will meet a few times a year: a real counter-gambit, an old provocation, and a defence with a bad reputation it does not entirely deserve.
Puzzles from this opening
The Queen's Gambit in brief
The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6, and it is filed under ECO D35. This course teaches it from White's side in 16 drills across 6 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
- The offer and the structure against the main declining move, 2...e6
- The main tabiya against Black's standard ...Nbd7 and ...Nf8 defence
- The minority attack, played out against Black meeting b4 with ...a6
- When Black plays ...c6 first against the ...c6 move order, planning ...Bf5
- The ...Bf5 question against the ...c6 order when White has already played e3
- The bishop check that cannot be taken against Black's ...Bd6 and ...c6 setup
- When ...Bb4 pins first against 3...Bb4, where the automatic Bg5 loses a piece
- Taking the centre against the Accepted with 3...Nf6
- Black hits back in the middle against 3...e5, the main line
- Trying to keep the pawn against 3...b5, the greedy try
- The Qb3 pressure against the Slav with ...Nc6 and ...Bf5
- Chasing the bishop with pawns against the modern ...a6 and ...Bg4 setup
- When Black trades the bishops against the ...e6 and ...Bd6 simplification
- The Albin Counter-Gambit against 2...e5, offering a pawn back
- The Chigorin against 2...Nc6, the knight in front of the c-pawn
- The Marshall Defence against 2...Nf6, which loses a pawn but not the game
Questions
- What is the Queen's Gambit?
- The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6, filed under ECO D35. The oldest offer in chess, and the pawn comes back. Black can take the pawn, but he cannot keep it, and the price of trying is the whole centre.
- How do you learn the Queen's Gambit?
- This course splits it into 16 drills across 6 chapters. You play each line from White's side against a coach note that explains the move, then the same lines come back on a spaced-repetition schedule until you can play them without prompting. Every position is verified with Stockfish at depth 20 before it ships.