Openings · C21–C22

Centre Game

Open the centre on move two and accept an early queen sortie — or give the pawns away and call it the Danish.

1.e4 e5 2.d4played as White

Play it through on the board below.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

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Your move 1 of 20/2
  1. 1.e4e5
  2. 2.d4

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

The idea

2.d4 opens the position before anybody is developed. After 2…exd4 White either takes with the queen, accepting that she will be chased and using the time to castle long, or plays 3.c3, the Danish Gambit, and gives up one pawn or two for the diagonals.

Both versions are club weapons rather than main lines, and both are perfectly playable if you know what happens when the gift is refused — which is the part almost nobody looks up.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

Kicking the knight with e5

After 5…Ng4
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Gaining space with 5.e5 while the queen stands on e3.
Why it costs
5…Ng4 attacks the queen and eyes f2, and 6.Qe4 d5 wins the pawn back with the initiative. Pushing a pawn past your own queen is how a queen that had merely been chased becomes a queen that is in the way.
Instead
5.Nc3 and 6.Bd2, castling long as fast as possible. The queen on e3 is only tolerable while the rest of the pieces are coming out behind her.

The Danish, accepted to the end

After 5…d5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Expecting the two-pawn gambit to leave Black defenceless.
Why it costs
5…d5 gives one pawn straight back and shuts both bishops down. After 6.Bxd5 Nf6 Black develops with tempo and is a pawn up in an ordinary position; this has been the known answer for about a hundred years.
Instead
Take on c3 with the knight instead of playing 4.Bc4 — 4.Nxc3 keeps the lead in development without spending the second pawn — or meet 5…d5 with 6.exd5 and play for the open lines rather than the material.

The Danish, declined

After 5…Nc6
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Having no plan for 3…d5, which is what a prepared opponent plays.
Why it costs
Black hands the pawn back at once and reaches a position where White's extra tempo is worth very little. Every attacking idea the Danish is played for needs Black to have taken twice on c3.
Instead
Know it as an isolated-queen's-pawn game: 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Be2 and play the position for the d5 square, not for an attack that is not there.

In real games between beginners

  • 1 in 31games end with White giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.
  • 1 in 56games end with White getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.

From 12,375 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.

What the engine says

After 1.e4 e5 2.d4, these are Black's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing Black's chance of winning.

  1. exd4-0.3
  2. d6+0.3
  3. Nc6+0.7
  4. Qe7+0.7
  5. Bd6+0.9
  6. Nf6+1.0

The engine's main line from exd4: exd4 Ne2 c5 c3 d5 cxd4 dxe4 Nbc3.

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

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