D4 > E5?

I was thinking of good responses to d4 today, and I was mulling over how terrible of a response e5 is, as you will automatically lose that pawn, and will be tackling that potentially-passed pawn for the rest of the game (assuming your opponent protects it).

 So, I pose the question, can you gain any decent ground from 1. D4 - E5?

Just after posting this I found the following game opening by some pro's, where does black plan to go?

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=518101

In that game, I'd expect 7. ... Ng6, with a Zilbermints-like knight setup.

The Englund Gambit (1. d4 e5) isn't sound, but below expert level, playing an opening you know better than your opponent is more important than playing one that's theoeretically sound. There are several main variations of the Englund Gambit. The one in the game you're looking at isn't one of the main lines that I'm familiar with.

The true main line of the Englund is 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7. The official refutation to this is 4. Qd5. Because that move protects the pawn and stifles black's position. I stopped playing that line as black, for fear of running into an opponent who knows that refutation.

Now I play the Soller Gambit line - 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 f6 3. exf6 Nxf6, though I usually insert 2. ... Nc6 3. Nf3 before f6. This leads to a position similar to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, but with colors reversed, and black down a tempo on top of the missing pawn.

Another major line of the Englund is the Zilbermints Gambit that I mentioned above. It goes 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Ne7 4. Bf4 Ng6 5. Bg3 Qe7. Black usually ends up getting his gambit pawn back, but white has vastly superior development for it.

The key to playing this gambit is to realize it's unsound, but the main advantage is that you get your opponent into situations that he's not familiar with. Most 1. d4 players are hoping for a closed game, and the very first move prevents that.

For white, declining the gambit up front is theoretically worse, but it does have the advantage of getting black out of his opening preparation. There are a ton of ways to decline the gambit after 1. d4 e5.  White can play 2. d5, 2. e3, 2. Nf3, or just make any other natural, developing move and count on his queen to recapture on d4 if 2. ... exd4. 

I should point out that in USCF tournament play, I've responded to 1. d4 with e5 three times, and I've scored 2 wins and a draw, all against opponents rated higher than me. So in the U1600 section of tournaments, it's certainly playable.

--Fromper 

Yes, this is a real gambit; black can in no way rely on recovering the pawn. Fromper makes a good point that all gambits are playable under a certain rating. This one seems silly to me though. You offer a central pawn for nothing. There are gambits where central pawns are offered in an attempt to open lines, but this gambit seems to achieve this worse than most.

There are a couple of traps in one of the main lines. Probably, few would fall into these, but they are worth knowing in case someone plays the Englund against you.

1. d4 e5  2. dxe5 Nc6  3. Nf3 Qe7  4. Bf4 Qb4+  5. Nbd2?? Qxf4 

1. d4 e5  2. dxe5 Nc6  3. Nf3 Qe7  4. Bf4 Qb4+  5. Qd2?? Qxb2

1. d4 e5  2. dxe5 Nc6  3. Nf3 Qe7  4. Bf4 Qb4+  5. Bd2 Qxb2  6. Bc3?? Bb4 

7. Qd2 Bxc3 (7. Bxb4 and 7...Nxb4 is even better than 7...Qxa1) 8. Qxc3 Qc1# (8. Nxc3 Qxa1+)

The main line, which is quite difficult for black is

1. d4 e5  2. dxe5 Nc6  3. Nf3 Qe7  4. Bf4 Qb4+  5. Bd2 Qxb2  6. Nc3 Bb4

7. Rb1 Qa3  8. Rb3 Qa5  9. a3

Fromper pointed out 4. Qd5 and I really don't think black has a good reply to this. His best chance is probably to offer another pawn with 5. d6. If anyone else has some views on this, they can pick up here.

 I think 4. ... f6 is the mainline after 4. Qd5, though I've heard of 4. ... d6, also. I don't really know, since I don't play that line.

--Fromper 

The Englud gambit is very agressive, might want to learn about it before playing it