The queens gambit..the pros and cons?

As white, this is my favorite opening. I was wondering what are some of the pros and cons feel about this opening? I like it either accepted or declined because i can control the middle better.

Originally posted by robydela
As white, this is my favorite opening. I was wondering what are some of the pros and cons feel about this opening? I like it either accepted or declined because i can control the middle better.

Perceived wisdom has it that the Queens Gambit should be declined whilst the Kings Gambit should be accepted.

oh man, someone answer this post, i hate playing against the queens gambit, i have tried the slav, queens gambit declined, queens gambit accepted, my Greek friend who loves this opening took a lot of his own time to show me how virtually impossible it is to keep the pawn, eventually i settled for a very poor kings Indian defence, so what are the cons, ways to exploit this most annoying of openings.etc?😀

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
oh man, someone answer this post, i hate playing against the queens gambit, i have tried the slav, queens gambit declined, queens gambit accepted, my Greek friend who loves this opening took a lot of his own time to show me how virtually impossible it is to keep the pawn, eventually i settled for a very poor kings Indian defence, so what are the cons, ways to exploit this most annoying of openings.etc?😀

First off, the classical QGD is difficult to 'exploit' for either side. QGD is your Caro-Kann against 1.d4. This is not the Merans, King's Indians, Benoni's, of the world, which may increase your likelyhood of a full point as black but certainly require sharper play.

Any QGD player will tell you that the main goal in the opening/early middle game is to attend to the development of the light squared bishop. This is key. As black you want to free or at least expand the scope of the bishop early. Failure to do so and you'll have a hard time equalizing, hence the annoying part as you mentioned. Nevertheless, black's position is solid and will be difficult for white to crack early on.

It is hard to give tips without examples so it is better to study games. Study Capablanca vs. Alekhine 1927 World Championship. I believe many of the games were QGD. Pay particular attention to how all of black's moves are centered around developing the light squared bishop.

Originally posted by robydela
As white, this is my favorite opening. I was wondering what are some of the pros and cons feel about this opening? I like it either accepted or declined because i can control the middle better.

Accept the pawn but be prepared to give it back.........decline the pawn expect a cramped early game.......try to get shut of blacks problem child..."The white squared Bishop" if you can either by playing
Bg4 early or Bb7 after advancing the b pawn........😉

There are several ways to liven up the dull old Queen's Gambit:

Super-GM Morovevich used to frequentlly play, and recently published a book about, the Tchigorin Defense: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6!?. It typically leads to games of a highly tactical nature. In his Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black, IM Gary Lane recommends the Tchigorin.

Another way to mix things up is the Albin Counter Gambit: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5!?. Gambiteer II by GM Nigel Davies advocates this defense.

Neither defense is for the faint-hearted, but they both offer good winning chances for Black if you're playing for the full point.

If drawing with Black doesn't bother you, then you can't do much better than play the Slav Defense (1 d4 d5 c4 c6). It's very solid and relatively easy to learn, unlike the wild tactical complications that ensue from the Tchigorin and the Albin.

Originally posted by gaychessplayer
There are several ways to liven up the dull old Queen's Gambit:

Super-GM Morovevich used to frequentlly play, and recently published a book about, the Tchigorin Defense: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6!?. It typically leads to games of a highly tactical nature. In his Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black, IM Gary Lane recommends the Tchigorin.
...[text shortened]... learn, unlike the wild tactical complications that ensue from the Tchigorin and the Albin.

I play the Queen's Gambit alot (probably 90% of my games) as white.

I refuse to play against it as black so I always use the Albin Counter-Gambit. I actually just bought the Gambiteer II book on Sunday but I haven't had a chance to look at it thoroughly yet.

The Albin Counter-Gambit is pretty interesting if you are willing to try something different.

Originally posted by slappy115
I play the Queen's Gambit alot (probably 90% of my games) as white.

I refuse to play against it as black so I always use the Albin Counter-Gambit. I actually just bought the Gambiteer II book on Sunday but I haven't had a chance to look at it thoroughly yet.

The Albin Counter-Gambit is pretty interesting if you are willing to try something different.

Nothing is annoying as 1...e6 when I am white 🙁

Originally posted by robydela
As white, this is my favorite opening. I was wondering what are some of the pros and cons feel about this opening? I like it either accepted or declined because i can control the middle better.

Irnev Chernev's classic "Logical chess move by move" offers some beautiful fully annotated games with QG, both accepted and declined. The games are real eye candies, explained move by move, just like the book title says.

Originally posted by ivan2908
Nothing is annoying as 1...e6 when I am white 🙁

I honestly wouldn't know what to do against it. I would not accept it.

Originally posted by ivan2908
Nothing is annoying as 1...e6 when I am white 🙁

In that case, I'll come to your rescue!

The following leads to interesting games:

1 d4 e6 2 e4 d5 3 c4!? de 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 f3 ef 6 Nf3

Originally posted by gaychessplayer
There are several ways to liven up the dull old Queen's Gambit:

Super-GM Morovevich used to frequentlly play, and recently published a book about, the Tchigorin Defense: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6!?. It typically leads to games of a highly tactical nature. In his Ideas Behind Modern Chess Openings: Black, IM Gary Lane recommends the Tchigorin.
...[text shortened]... learn, unlike the wild tactical complications that ensue from the Tchigorin and the Albin.

"play the Slav Defense (1 d4 d5 c4 c6). It's very solid and relatively easy to learn"...Relatively easy to learn ? I am interested, what would you recommend me for learning it ? I need to know it at an about 2000 ELO level...

Hi Dearest all, what an amazing site!

I think Queen's Gambit stands for an aggressive development but never offers a forced advantage for the White; the main repertoire against it consists of 1. Chigorin/ Albin/ QGA/ Tarrasch/ Orthodox/ Slav, 2. Old Indian/ KID/ Gruenfeld/ NimzoIndian, 3. Budapest/ Benko/ Benoni/ Modern Benoni, and of course 4. Modern/Dutch/ English Defence and Miscellaneous replies -and the White must be quite ready to face them all; all my games as White are Queen's Gambit because I always strive for central control and a restrained but solid attacking built-up, however still there are positions and situations that I am unable to understand in full; amazing opening, full of tactical combinations, never easy to be cracked with Chigorin/ Albin, very offensive against QGA/ Tarrasch/ Orthodox/ Slav, quite positional against Old King's Indian/ KID/ Gruenfeld/ NimzoIndian, very tricky against Budapest/ Benko/ Benoni, very sophisticated against the rest repertoires I mentioned earlier; there 's not an easy solution for both the White and the Black, I reckon -just study hard, try the lines that make you feel most comfortable, don't panick and enjoy the game!

Originally posted by vipiu
"play the Slav Defense (1 d4 d5 c4 c6). It's very solid and relatively easy to learn"...Relatively easy to learn ? I am interested, what would you recommend me for learning it ? I need to know it at an about 2000 ELO level...

GM Mathew Sadler wrote a book on the Slav that received an excellent review in the old Inside Chess magazine. It's a bit out of date, but the review indicated that Mr. Sadler explained the ideas extremely well.

Originally posted by vipiu
"play the Slav Defense (1 d4 d5 c4 c6). It's very solid and relatively easy to learn"...Relatively easy to learn ? I am interested, what would you recommend me for learning it ? I need to know it at an about 2000 ELO level...

the slav is extremely well balanced...and supported in hundreds of GM games theory wise.... even the world favorite kasparov uses it in his arsenal. Perhaps though, the most important portion of what you said was "if your willing to draw" I find that most Slav games are rather drawish, however if you are capable of positional stress and constant queenside assualts it may be for you.

or of course...the tried and true technique.

play the french and don't worry about it.