10 Openings Every Chess Player Must Memorise
4. Queen's Gambit
The Queen’s Gambit, at first glance, is simply the reverse of
the King’s Gambit. The opening is played during a Closed Game, the opposite of
the Open Game, where white plays pawn to D4 and black responds with pawn to D5.
White continues with pawn to C4, offering a similar exchange as that seen in
the King’s Gambit.
Similarly to before, there are two mainline variations which are the most often seen, being the Queen's Gambit Accepted and the Queen's Gambit Declined. The Queen’s Gambit Accepted, as the name suggests, see black take on C4 with the D5 pawn. However this leaves white free to develop the centre, with moves like king’s side knight to F3 or pawn to E4. The Queen’s Gambit Declined sees black play the move pawn to E6, protecting the D5 pawn. White can add an additional attack on D5 by playing the queen’s side knight to C3.
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted variation is generally considered better for black, giving an equal advantage if played optimally. White is still able to develop strongly here, however, with king’s side knight to F3 covering more of the centre and pawn to E3 or E4 allowing a discovered attack from the king’s side bishop on the C4 square.