Learn the Queen's Gambit
Queen's Pawn (1.d4) · D06–D69
Your goal: play the Queen's Gambit from memory as White — keep every move right for two weeks and it's mastered.
Choose a line — start with the main line
Watch the moves · play them from memory · spar: play the opening out against the computer.
You'll play White — watch each move, I'll explain.
Intro
1. d41… d52. c42… dxc43. Nf33… Nf64. e34… e65. Bxc4
What you're training
Use c4 to lever Black's d5 pawn and seize central space; if Black takes (the Accepted), regain the pawn with e3 and Bxc4 and develop quickly, and if Black declines with ...e6 or ...c6 you fight for the centre and the e4 break.
Strengths
- It's not a real gambit: after 2...dxc4 you regain the pawn naturally with e3 and Bxc4, so don't fear giving it up.
- The c4 pawn attacks d5 — the goal is to undermine Black's centre and gain space, not to win material.
- Declining with 2...e6 (the Queen's Gambit Declined) is Black's most solid reply; declining with 2...c6 is the Slav. Both lead to rich, classical positions.
- Whatever Black does, White aims to develop smoothly and eventually engineer the e4 break to open the centre for the better-placed pieces.
Watch out for
- In the Accepted, don't try to cling to the c4 pawn with ...b5 too early — it weakens the queenside and White breaks with a4 or b3.
- As White, don't rush to recapture on c4 with the queen or knight; the clean way is e3 then Bxc4, keeping good development.
- Treating it like a real gambit and playing for a wild attack misses the point — this is a fight for the centre and space.