Old Variation

The Old Variation, 3. e3, is White's most conservative way of meeting the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Instead of claiming the center with 3. e4 or keeping ...e5 under control with 3. Nf3, White supports d4 with a pawn and opens the f1-a6 diagonal so that Bxc4 can recover the gambit pawn on the next move. It is less common than those two main lines but remains a respectable choice, and the engine regards the position as roughly level.

The drawback of the modest pawn move is that it does nothing to stop 3...e5, which is the engine's preferred reply. Black hits the center before White's king's knight has come out. Taking at once is a mistake: 4. dxe5 Qxd1+ 5. Kxd1 costs White the right to castle. The usual course is 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4, after which White has an isolated queen's pawn with free piece play, and Black aims to blockade and pressure d4. White can instead leave the d-pawn en prise with 5. Qb3, attacking f7; after 5...Qe7 the sixth move defines a group of gambit lines, namely the Christensen Gambit with 6. Nf3, the Billinger Gambit with 6. a3, the Korchnoi Gambit with 6. Kf1 and the Novikov Gambit with 6. Nd2.

The most frequent reply in practice is 3...Nf6, simple development after which White normally takes back on c4. The classical 3...e6 is solid and often transposes to the main lines of the opening, at the cost of shutting in the light-squared bishop.

The second most popular answer, 3...b5, is a mistake that White punishes heavily in online games. Defending the extra pawn exposes Black's queenside and long diagonal. After 4. a4 c6 5. axb5 cxb5 6. Qf3, the queen strikes at the rook on a8, and Black cannot avoid losing material; 6...Bb7 fails to 7. Qxb7. Even with better defense along the way, Black ends up either a pawn short or well behind in development, so the sensible course after 3. e3 is to develop and strike at the center. Across all games reaching the position, White scores well.