The Queens Gambit
The Queens Gambit
Hi everyone! So for many of you guys, school has started and so things have been getting a little busy. That has been the case for me and Happy0natsu. However, we are still trying our best to maintain our activity to keep the club booming.
On the "What Openings Should we Discuss" forum, 23Dragons said he(or she) wanted to discuss the Queens Gambit.
Now, the Queens Gambit is a very popular gambit played by all levels of players. Garry Kasprov himself played it, and frequently won his games with the powerful opening. So what makes this opening so powerful, and why do so many people play it?
The main reason is this idea I like to call a "fake gambit". The queens gambit starts off with d4,d5,c4, as shown in the diagram below.
White immediately sacrifices his c4 pawn to gain center control, as is the same with many other gambits. However, in many cases, black will accepts the pawn yet white will gain it back again! Let's see an example:
As you can see, the move e3 immediately unlocks the light squared bishops true power by threatening to take the c4 pawn. Because of this threat, some lower leveled players might use every ounce of their strength to guard that c4 pawn! Let me show you an example.
There are two different beginner traps in the queens gambit, that revolve around the opponent trying to guard their material advantage. Try finding both of them!
Both positions start off at :
Now black obviously doesn't want to take on a4, as Queen takes a4+ will quickly win back the material advantage gained by black (Qxa4+, Nc6, Qxc4).
Here are the two cases where black falls into a terrible traps. Try finding the moves!
(1)
White sneakily devours the a8 rook, and with that -most likely- the game.
(2)
With the move Qf3, there is no way of stopping the Queen from taking the rook on a8 except by blocking with the knight.
So for many players under 1000, these traps are often used. I have seen 1100's fall into the traps!
Positional Ideas
Ok so enough with the tactics, lets get into the positional aspect. When black takes, you will most likely end up taking back and then controlling the center. Lets take a look at an example:
After Bxc4, white dominates the center, not only with its knights and bishop, but also with the pawns on d4 and e3. Also, white has quickly developed, and after castling, he will be able to start an attack.
Now, one often misconception is the anxiety over the dark-squared bishop. I had often felt the need to develop that dark-squared bishop. In the queens gambit, once you go into deep middle game structures, it often seems that the dark-squared bishop is not doing anything. As I was watching a St.Louis Chess Club stream, NM Caleb told me that one secret many masters and grand masters share is that often times, the best square for the dark-squared bishop is on its starting square! Yes, I know its weird, but think about it. With pawns on e3 and d4, the dark-squared bishop will nicely have an open diagonal from c1-h6 once the e3 pawn is pushed.
This leads me to my next common idea in the Queens gambit. Many of you might have noticed the weakness on e4, which is why we play Nc3 before Bxc4. However, soon in the middle game, you should always consider playing e4 as long as the move is well supported and does not lead to any tactical tricks or positional blunders.
All of the ideas that I have explained to you pertain to when black does not accept the free offer on c4. Make sure to develop, castle, and look to dominate the center (especially against KID).
That's it for this blog,
DrSuperJJ
