Well stated.
Why isn't the Queen's Gambit Accepted more often?
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Sep 29, 2023
0
#23
QGD and Slav are very hard to play as Black. So I swithched to QGA. I won a game in an otb game against a seasoned active tournament player. He knew how to play but I have more experience in QGA online games so i know the plans more. I am fide unrated. I lost 3 of my white pieces games lots of Caro Kann players! Waaaa.
TheSampson wrote:
Chess principles. Also, everyone tells them to decline it. You need to be careful if you play the QGA, while in the QGD, it's a quiet, boring game with no reason to worry or rush.
If you decline the gambit with e6, you commit to a solid center, prepare development and prepare to castle your king to safety after Nf6 and Be7. If you accept, you give the center and trade a center pawn for a flank pawn- which is a little bit unprincipled in an opening. You could argue that white trades a center pawn for a flank pawn in the Open Sicilian, a highly respected opening, but we don't talk about that.
Yes but black trading the c pawn for the d pawn in the Sicilian is almost impossible to avoid for white. Obviously there's c3 lines white can play, but the c3 Sicilian is not amazing for very concrete reasons
Strange as it may seem, at the highest levels the QGA is actually considered safer than the QGD. It turns out that people who are very well booked-up and highly skilled on both openings find the QGA is actually the safer and less audacious opening, see how it has a higher drawing rate and it has this reputation also. Most people are surprised by this, especially when compared to accepting the king's gambit. It's totally justifable to assume that the game should be wilder than the QGD but it turns out differently - chess isn't always as it first appears.
You can see for yourself if you go to an opening database and check on the results - the QGA will have a higher drawing rate among the top players.
#25, I am learning the QGA and I find it a very interesting opening. IMHO, I think there are three reasons why there are more draws at higher 1) in a lot of the variations , the Queens can come off the board early. This does a lot for King safety and somewhat steers the game towards an early endgame. 2) whether the Queens come off or not, it leads to more equal positions, sometimes even symmetrical. and 3) At higher levels, the opponents themselves have more skills and experience navigating middlegame and endgame positions. some draws have nothing to do with the opening but understandin the chess that all openings eventually get to if the opponents survive the tactics and stay even as far as material exchanges.
Sep 30, 2023
0
#27
Laskersnephew wrote:
The QGA is quite a decent opening, and even the strongest players i the world play it once in a while. There is no reason to avoid it
True. Kasparov deployed the Berlin Defense and Queen's Gambit Accepted against the very strong computer X3D Fritz. The computer could not beat Kasparov on QGA ended up in a draw. Kasparov was beaten with the Berlin Defense 1-0 by X3D Fritz.
Hi!
The QGA is a totally fine opening but I agree not so common compared to the QGD or the Slav.
Personally I don´t recommend it to my students, instead I recommend them the QGD because I think it is better to learn classical chess concepts -like centre control -first. I would recommend the QGA only to intermediate players and beyond, who are ready for counterattacking play.
Good luck!