Queen's Gambit Accepted: free opening course

Key ideas

• Usually you give the pawn back. Grabbing it with the b-pawn too early leaves holes on your queenside.
• Use the time White spends on winning the pawn back. Develop your pieces and castle quickly.
• Hit White's centre with a pawn break. The c-pawn goes to c5, or the e-pawn goes to e5.
• In the Classical line, the a-pawn and the b-pawn gain space on the queenside. The bishop then goes to b7.
• If White gets an isolated pawn on d4, block it with a piece on d5 and trade pieces.

The 6 variations in the course

• Classical: 7.dxc5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 … — White develops calmly with Nf3 and e3 and wins the pawn back. Black plays ...e6, ...c5 and ...a6. When White trades on c5 and swaps queens, Black's king stays in the centre and the bishops become active.
• Classical: 7.Nc3 b5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 … — White keeps the queens on with 7.Nc3. Black gains space with ...b5 and puts the bishop on b7. Then Black develops the knight to d7 and chooses when to take on d4.
• Central Variation: 4.d5?! b5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. d5 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Nf3 Bc5 … — White takes the centre with 3.e4, and Black hits back with ...e5. The popular 4.d5 closes the centre but leaves the c4 pawn in Black's hands for a while. Black supports it with ...b5, develops fast and castles.
• Central Variation: 4.Nf3 exd4: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 exd4 5. Bxc4 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Nc6 … — White develops with 4.Nf3 and offers a gambit. Black takes on d4 and checks with the bishop. White gets active pieces, but Black can trade knights on d4 and castle into a safe position.
• Old Variation: 3.e3 e5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Nf6 6. Nf3 Be7 … — White prepares to take back on c4 with the bishop. Black uses the moment to play ...e5 and trade the centre pawns. White gets an isolated pawn on d4, and Black blockades it.
• Queen check: 3.Qa4+ Nc6: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Qa4+ Nc6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nd5 6. Qxc4 Nb6 … — White checks with the queen to win the c4 pawn back. Black blocks with the knight. Taking on c4 at once drops the d4 pawn, so White develops first. Black's knight then jumps to d5 and b6 and gains time on the queen.

Traps you will learn (3)

• Lost rook: 5.axb5 axb5?? 6.Rxa8 — A warning for Black. After 3.e3 many players try to keep the pawn with ...b5 and ...a6. When the a-pawns are traded, the a-file opens, and the a8 rook has no defender.
• Loose bishop: 5...Bg4? 6.Bxf7+ — A warning for Black. Pinning the f3 knight looks natural, but it leaves f7 and the g4 bishop loose. White takes on f7 with check, and the knight check uncovers the queen on the g4 bishop.
• Pawn grab: 4.Qxc4? Qxd4 — After 3.Qa4+ Nc6 many players take on c4 at once. But the queen on c4 cannot hold d4. Black takes it, trades queens and is a pawn up.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.