Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. Nf3/2...d5

Queen's Pawn Opening
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/3P4/5N2/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKB1R w
Moves: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6
ECO code: D03-D05

Queen's Pawn Opening

White's main options:

• 3. c4 - Direct transposition to Queen's Gambit.
• 3. e3 - Often signals a move toward the Colle System, though it can still transpose back to QG.
• 3. g3 - The fianchetto is quieter but will either transpose or tend toward a Catalan.
• 3. Bg5 - The Torre Attack. If white's plan is to double black's pawns by exchanging the bishop for the f6 knight, this is independent. Otherwise it should transpose into typical QGD lines.

A move like 3. Nc3 is certainly not bad, but it doesn't put much pressure on black. White's c-pawn plays a key role in control of the center, and moving the knight to c3 earlier usually allows black easy equality. Also 3. Bf4 can be played, leading into the London System.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5

	3	4	5
Queen's Gambit	c4 e6	Nc3 e6	Nf3 Be7	=
Colle System	e3 -	Nf3 -	Bd3 -	=
	g3 c6	Bg2 Bf5	O-O e6	=
London System with an early Nf3 before Bf4	Bf4			=
Torre Attack	Bg5 Ne4	Bf4 c5	e3 Qb6	=

References

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.