OK Mrs. Harmon, let's learn the Queen's Gambit (Declined). We start with, of course, the queen's pawn to d4.
Here we can initiate the Queen's Gambit with pawn to c4. Black has to make a tough choice here - either take our free pawn (which isn't actually free!), or try to hold onto the center.
In this course we'll cover what happens when Black DOESN'T take our pawn. This is actually the most common way Black will play against us. When they decline our gambit, we move our knight to c3, adding more pressure on the center..
The best move is to open our light-square bishop with pawn to e3.
We have now transposed into another opening called the nimzo-indian. That opening deserves its own full course (which i will be making) but for now I won't leave you hungry and I'll throw you 1 line for it. Let's play pawn to a3.
Let's take back with pawn to c3.
Let's play pawn takes d5 here.
Let's develop our bishop to d3.
This is a huge mistake from black. It looked like a free pawn but now we have queen to c2, forking the knight and the h7 pawn.
Bishop takes h7. Bam.
Now our bishop can come home to d3.
Great. We are simply winning here.
Black has played the Tarrasch Defense. From here, we should take the pawn on d5 first. c4 pawn takes d5.
Let's continue our development with knight to f3.
Now is a good time to take with pawn to c5.
Black forgot we have two attackers on the d5 pawn. Queen takes on d5.
And knight takes queen on d5.
Well done! We are up a pawn and life is good.
Let's have some fun: pawn to e4. This is called the Marshall Gambit
This is a mistake from black! Let's play c-pawn captures on d5.
Now we see why it was a mistake from black. We can push pawn to e5 here, booting the knight.
Let's wrap up with queen to g4, stopping the enemy dark-square bishop from being able to develop.
Well done! The computer is absolutely in love with our position here. We'll develop our knight, bishop, and castle kingside soon.
And now let's relieve some of the pressure in the center with pawn takes on d5.
Let's pin Black's knight with bishop to g5.
We need to stabilize our center and prepare for more development. Pawn to e3.
Let's develop our bishop to d3.
Blunder! Black didn't defend their d5 pawn or reinforce their f6 knight, which means we are going to get a winning position. First, bishop takes knight on f6.
Now the killer queen to h5, threatening mate on h1 and to take the pawn on d5.
Now we get our pawn! Queen to d5.
Well done! We are up a pawn and have a better position. Life is good.
This is Black's most common response. Let's build a battery with queen to c2.
Let's back our bishop up to h4.
Let's continue with our development plan: knight to e2.
Let's castle our king king-side.
Our bishop is now hanging! Before we mess with Black's knight, let's capture with bishop to e7.
One last thing before we mess with Black's knight - let's bring our a-rook over to e1.
Finally, we have done all the preparation and we can play pawn to f3, kicking the knight.
Retreating was a mistake from black! Now we finally get our e-pawn push. Pawn to e4.
Let's capture back with pawn to e4.
Well done! We are threatening a fork on the next move with pawn to e5, and even though the material is equal, the computer thinks we are 2 point ahead.