Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit, 1. d4 d5 2. c4, attacks Black's d-pawn with the c-pawn. The aim is to lure it away from the center, weaken Black's grip on e4 and give White a larger share of the central squares. It is occasionally called the Aleppo Gambit, after Philipp Stamma of Aleppo, who advocated it in the 18th century. The word gambit is largely a convention. After 2...dxc4 Black has no good way of keeping the pawn, and White normally recovers it. The engine regards the position as roughly balanced, and it is among the most frequently reached positions in the database.

Black's replies differ mainly in how they handle d5. The two classical ways of declining are 2...e6, the Queen's Gambit Declined, and 2...c6, the Slav Defense. Both prepare to meet cxd5 with a pawn recapture, so that a pawn stays on d5 contesting e4. In the 2...e6 lines Black tolerates a somewhat cramped game, seeks relief through exchanges and the breaks ...c5 and ...e5, and may take on c4 only after White's bishop has gone to d3 or e2, so that Bxc4 costs a tempo. The Slav leaves the c8-bishop free but contributes nothing to development. Its ...c6 can later support ...b5 if Black grabs the c4 pawn. Combining ...c6 and ...e6 produces the Semi-Slav. 2...dxc4, the Queen's Gambit Accepted, gives up the center for the moment in exchange for easy piece play. On Lichess 2...e6 is the most common reply, with 2...dxc4, 2...Nf6 and 2...c6 each close behind.

The rarer replies are often treated as openings in their own right. 2...Nf6, the Marshall Defense, intends to recapture on d5 with the knight, but 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. e4 gains time for White. Frank Marshall used it briefly in the 1920s and then dropped it. 2...Nc6, the Chigorin Defense, meets cxd5 with ...Qxd5 to pressure d4 and steers the game toward unbalanced positions; Alexander Morozevich has played it at the top level. The Albin Countergambit, 2...e5, is a sharp try for the initiative. After 3. dxe5 d4 the advanced pawn cramps White, and the line is more dangerous at club level than among elite players. 2...Bf5, the Baltic Defense, and 2...c5, the Austrian Defense, are offbeat; Hikaru Nakamura has tried the latter, though it appears to favor White.

The opening is recorded as early as 1490, in the Göttingen manuscript, and Gioachino Greco examined it in the 17th century. Queen's pawn openings were unfashionable in the early modern era, and the Queen's Gambit only became routine after the Vienna tournament of 1873. Its standing rose with the positional teachings of Wilhelm Steinitz and Siegbert Tarrasch and peaked between the wars. In the 1927 World Championship between Capablanca and Alekhine it featured in 32 of the 34 games. After the Second World War many players preferred Indian defenses to the symmetrical 1...d5, yet the opening remains a mainstay of 1. d4 repertoires.