Overlooked Opening? | Queen's Gambit Accepted

Recently I’ve been trying to find a response against 1.d4 and more specifically the queen’s gambit accepted. I had been just playing the QGD (Queen’s Gambit Declined) like the vast majority of chess players, and I had also tried the nimzo-indian for a brief period but neither of those really felt right. Then eventually it hit me, I could play the QGA (Queen’s Gambit accepted)! I recalled their being a dangerous exchange sac line (which I will show you later) and when I had played QG as white I did no study of the QGA because almost no one played it. So I decided that it was solid enough to play and would be a decent “surprise” for opponent’s near my rating. So once I conferred with my coach, I decided to look into it and I have to say it is one treat. 

Before I get into the lines I should mention that this is not a complete cover of the QGA but it does cover many of the main ideas and shows how challenging it can be.

3.Nc3. A very common sideline that leads to quite an entertaining attacking position.

3.e3 The most annoying as white can easily equalize the game into something that is symmetrical with slightly better development. This is achieved through the thematic d5 push, luckily you may find that most players will not want to enter such a drab position.

3.e4. This is the most fun of all the variations as you are able to play the fun exchange sac line which I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, there is way too much to cover in one blog, but I was able to put in some tasteful examples of how you can crush with it.

3.Nf3. This usually will be transposed into another opening, or a 3.e3 line.