Openings · D30–D69

Queen's Gambit Declined

Hold the centre with a pawn and accept a cramped game: the most reliable answer to 1.d4 there is.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6played as Black

The idea

2…e6 declines the gambit and defends d5 with a pawn, which is the soundest way to do it. Black is solid, slightly cramped, and rarely in danger of anything sudden.

The game is about two things: getting the c8 bishop out from behind the pawn on e6, and finding the moment for …c5 or …dxc4 followed by …c5. Everything else is preparation for one of those.

Practise the line

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

Your move 1 of 20/2

1.d4d5
2.c4e6

White is answering…

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

The bishop that never comes out

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nbd7

The mistake: Completing development in name only, with the bishop on c8 still behind its pawn.
Why it costs: It is the same complaint the French has, and it is the whole difficulty of the opening. A QGD where Black never solves it is a QGD Black spends forty moves defending.
Instead: Choose a plan: …b6 and …Bb7, the knight tour …Nf8–g6 with …Bd7, or the freeing …dxc4 and …c5 when the position allows.

The Elephant Trap, from the other side

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.Bxd8 Bb4+

The mistake: Believing the pin, and avoiding …Nbd7 because it seems to hang the d5 pawn.
Why it costs: It does not hang. If White takes, 6…Nxd5 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 wins a piece. Knowing the trap is what lets you play the natural move.
Instead: Play …Nbd7 and let White decide whether to walk into it. This is one of the few pieces of opening theory that pays for itself in a single game.

Taking on c4 too early

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4

The mistake: Giving up the centre with …dxc4 before …c5 is ready to follow.
Why it costs: The pawn cannot be kept, so the exchange is not about winning it — it is about getting …c5 in with a tempo on the bishop that recaptures. Played too early, it simply hands White the centre and a free developing move.
Instead: Wait for Bd3, so that …dxc4 hits the bishop and …c5 comes with the time you have gained.

Where it fits

The Queen's Gambit Declined is a variation of the Queen's Gambit, whose page covers the ideas this one takes for granted.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.