Queen's Gambit Declined
Keep the pawn on d5, put a pawn behind it, and build a position that nothing White does in the first ten moves can break. It has been the most trusted answer to 1.d4 for a century because every move is a natural one, and the freeing plan of ...h6, ...b6, ...Bb7 and ...c5 is the same every game.
Spar this openingYour setup
- Knightf6
- Knightd7
- Bishope7
- Bishopb7 / f5
- Queene7 / c7
- Pawnsd5 e6
- CastleO-O
dxc4 before b5. Take on c4 before you play ...b5. While the c4-pawn is still there, cxb5 simply wins your pawn: nothing on c6 or a6 can take back.
Ideas
...e6 behind ...d5 means cxd5 always has a recapture and e4 never comes for free.
The Queen's Gambit is an attack on d5. You answer it with a pawn on e6 and a knight on f6 so that the point is held three times. The cost is the c8-bishop stuck behind its own pawn, and the rest of the opening is about getting it out: to b7 in the main line, to f5 in the Exchange.
Once you have castled, ...h6 asks the g5-bishop what it wants. Then ...b6 is safe.
Bg5 pins your knight to the queen. It is not dangerous while the bishop on e7 is behind the knight, but it stops you playing ...b6 and ...Bb7 in comfort. After ...h6 the bishop either retreats to h4, where ...b6 follows at once, or takes on f6, where ...Bxf6 gives you the bishop pair and a solid game. Do not play ...h6 before castling: the pawn move matters less than king safety.
The Tartakower plan: your light bishop comes to b7 and the position stops feeling cramped.
After ...h6 Bh4 the move is ...b6. The bishop that ...e6 shut in comes to b7, looks down the long diagonal, and supports a later ...c5. From here every move is natural: ...Bb7, ...Nbd7, ...c5, and rooks to c8 and d8. If White trades on d5 you recapture with the knight and after Bxe7 Qxe7 Nxd5 exd5 the bishop comes to e6 instead.
The break that frees everything. Castle first, develop first, then ...c5.
Your position is solid but a little short of space until ...c5 hits d4. Played early, with the king on e8 and the f6-knight pinned, it opens the position for White's pieces and loses the d5-pawn. Played after ...O-O, ...Bb7 and ...Nbd7 it opens the c-file for you and asks White what the d4-pawn is doing.
...exd5, then ...c6 and ...Bf5 before the bishop gets shut in.
When White trades on d5 early, your e-pawn recaptures and the c8-bishop's diagonal opens. Use it at once: ...c6 covers d5 and guards b7, then ...Bf5 puts the bishop outside the pawn chain and offers to trade off White's good bishop. Later White will try the minority attack, b4 and b5, to leave you a weak c6-pawn. Meet it with ...a5 or ...a6 and by keeping your pieces active in the centre.
Castle, take on c4, and when the queen comes to recapture, ...a6 and ...b5 gain a move.
With the bishop on g2 White is not going to take back on c4 with a piece, so ...dxc4 costs White a queen move to recover. ...a6 prepares ...b5 so that the queen is hit again and your bishop reaches b7 on the long diagonal, staring straight at White's. Do not play ...b5 before ...a6: a4 breaks it up and the diagonal opens onto your rook.
Rooks to c8 and d8, then ...c5 or ...Ne4. Keep the structure tight and trade when it frees a piece.
Your trumps are solidity and a clear plan; White's are a little more space. Finish development, put the rooks on the c- and d-files, and choose your break: ...c5 against a normal centre, ...Ne4 when the bishop on h4 can be traded. In the Exchange structure the fight is the minority attack: slow b4-b5 down with ...a5 and look for ...Ne4 yourself.
The structure
Traps
The tell: You have played ...Nbd7 and White sees a pinned knight and a pawn on d5 that looks defended one time too few.
Nxd5 wins a pawn only if you recapture and lose the queen. You do recapture, and after Bxd8 the check on b4 wins White's queen back with interest: when the dust settles you are a knight up. It works because the d7-knight recaptures on d5 and the check comes with tempo.
The tell: White trades the bishop on f6, trades on d5, and sees a pawn with no knight in front of it.
With the f6-knight gone the pawn looks loose, but your queen on d8 sees straight down the file. Nxd5 loses a knight for a pawn, because nothing White has covers d5.
The tell: You have taken on c4 and want to hold it with ...b5 before ...a6 is in.
a4 attacks b5, ...c6 holds it, and after axb5 cxb5 the long diagonal from g2 to a8 has nothing on it but the f3-knight. Ng5 moves the knight with a threat and Bxa8 follows: you lose the rook for a knight. Play ...a6 first and take on c4 as a loan, not a keepsake.
Model games
The whole plan in ten moves: hold d5, castle, ask the bishop, get your own bishop to b7, and break with ...c5 once every piece is out.
White trades on d5 and you get the light bishop to f5 before it can be shut in. After the trade the position is solid and the fight is about White's slow b4-b5.
Against the fianchetto you castle, take on c4, and make the queen come and fetch the pawn. ...a6 and ...b5 gain space, and your bishop meets theirs on the long diagonal.
How the coach grades a move
Every move you play gets one of six grades, from the engine’s view of the position, with the book’s verdict taking over when it is harsher. The sentence beside it is always the reason. Tap it for what the move did, why this opening wants it, and whether anything was better.
- Best
- Nothing better was available.
- Good
- Within a few percent of best. Noise at this depth.
- Playable
- A small real gap. The better move is named, play goes on.
- Inaccuracy
- Seven to twelve points of winning chances. The game stops to show you.
- Mistake
- Twelve or more, or a move the book warns against, or a broken order rule.
- Blunder
- Twenty-five or more. Usually material.
Catalogued as D30–D69 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, the reference index most databases sort by.