Queen's Gambit decline

Hi frineds,

Can you please tell me what are the available defenses black may play after declining Queen's gambit. I will be greatful if you can provide links of each of those variations. 

Thanks,

Ravi Verma

Well it depends on what White follows up with. You have four responses that score well for White: 3.Nf3, 3.e4, 3.e3 and 3.Nc3. Then each of these has many, many responses. I'm sure Wikipedia has a lot of information.

Please tell me the all possible move no. 2 by black. 

Hi friend.

There are several okay responses to 1. d4 d5 2. c4 for black.

Perhaps 2... e6 is best, but this move also gets a lot of attention and your opponent may know it better than you. The important thing here is that you have a choice. You are in the driver's seat. If you play 2... e6 your opponent will certainly be at least as familiar as you are, otherwise why did he play the Queen's Gambit?

2... c6 is even more popular than 2...e6.

The important thing is that all of the decent replies prevent 3. cxd5 in some way. If you do anything really bad, he will at least have one good move, 3. cxd5. So take a look at all of the possibilities in that light, in addition to other opening principles.

With that in mind, another good option is to NOT decline, but to accept. 2...dxc4. It is "up there" with 2...e6 and 2...c6; he should know how to play against it, but he may underestimate it and you may find it is just as good as those more popular responses.

There are 3 _slightly_ weaker replies that he is less likely to  be familiar with: 2... c5 (Austrian Defense), 2...Nc6 (Chigorin Defense), and 2...Nf6 (Marshall Defense). Don't play these without doing your homework; for example, the Marshall Defense is considered refuted and it is kind of a discarded line because of 3. cxd5 Nxd5 line, with the idea of pushing e4 at the right time (maybe not immediately). But, if you do your homework on the Marshall it is playable, which would probably surprise your opponents.

They are fine for white if your opponent and yourself are evenly matched.

Excellent replies. Thanks a lot friends especially Sotimely for taking the pain. So what I have understood from this conversation is that to be good at Queen's gambit decline, I need to study :

1. Slav defense

2. Austrian Defense

3. Chigorin Defense

4. Marshall Defense

Am I correct? 

Thank you very much Arawn and I am sorry for not being able to put the question nicely. It's just my first question in this forum. :) 

Not exactly. These do decline the gambit, but the traditional Queen's Gambit Declined arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6.

There are just so many lines and so many that transpose from one to the other. It's hard to know where to begin wtih the QGD.

No problem man. Okay here are some that I've looked at:

1. Orthodox Variation

2. Lasker Variation

3. Tartakower Variation

4. Exchange Variation

5. Semi-Slav Defense

6. Tarrasch Defense

7. Semi-Tarrasch Defense

8. Ragozin Variation

9. Cambridge Springs Defense

10. Bf4 Variation

There are probably some I'm forgetting. I really struggle against the Queen's Gambit (well, I struggle with every opening). I tend to get worse positions; I think move orders are very important.

Now I am getting a bit confused. I thought Sotimely's reply had simplified things. Now we have 10 more. Let me ask one by one. I will be glad for your patient. 

That is the starting position of the Queen's Gambit Declined. The names change as you get deeper into the opening. For example:

Confused yet? :D For me personally I don't want worry too much about the names of variations. I try to think in terms of move orders. But those are some of the common variations in the Queen's Gambit Declined.

wow, hell lot of study needed. Ok can you please help me simplify things. I just want to learn the most common or popular variation white plays to black's 2.....e6

3.Nc3 is the most common reply.

Ravi, you don't really think your going to memorize this all do you?that might not the best use of your time-

instead don't worry about Every possible reply.... instead keep it simple.

for one, it isn't a good opening if black can gain a good tactic against the c3 knight, which is frequently pinned.   just as importantly black will need to decide when to take the pawn. 

from whites point of view, he wants to keep pressure on d4.  he can throw tactics against b7 (by developing the queen to b3).  white usually plays the Bishop g5 pin against the knight at f6.

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one thing thats confusing about openings is how different openings can lead to similar middlegame issues and patterns.  for example; I find that nitzmo-Indian  and queen gambits often show similarities. 

--- so this is why all this memorizing is so ineffective.  you need to know how to play the middlegame much more than you need to memorize old names of things.  and as handy as it can be keep the move-order right in a pet line. 

not falling pray to typical tactics is MUCH more important.

Thanks a lot, I just want to protect myself from surprise attacks or plans. Like for example in Queen's Gambit accepted; if black attempts to defend the pawn with pawns it looses it's rook and eventually the game. It is just an example. I have seen in King-Knight's opening also that a small mistake on black's part leads to disaster. That is the only purpose I want to learn the openings. I don't want to memorize all these, that is for sure. 

I've heard that the Marshall is somewhat of a failure...

I'd just play the Gruenfeld, or the Benoni... 

I love playing the middle game but I don't want a premature death because of lack of understanding of openings. I am trying to have a decent knowledge of Queen's Gambit decline.