The Queen’s Pawn Opening, beginning with 1. d4, is one of the whites’ most popular and sound options to begin a chess game.
White advances the queen’s pawn
White immediately takes control of the center and opens lines of development for his pieces. It’s clear that the Queen’s Pawn Opening adheres to the Chess Opening Principles. Many modern Grandmasters prefer to begin their chess games by advancing the d-pawn to the center of the board.
In contrast with the King’s Pawn Opening, the Queen’s Pawn is already defended (by the queen) upon its arrival in the center of the board, so any threat to this pawn doesn’t necessarily have to be immediately addressed.
This tends to afford each player a higher degree of flexibility than can be seen in a King’s Pawn opening. Many opening systems under the umbrella of Queen’s Pawn Openings are defined more by their ideas than by specific move orders – though that’s not to say that sharp, precise variations don’t exist!
Many distinct opening systems can arise from the Queen’s Pawn Opening. I’m going to break them down into two broad categories:
Black places their own Queen’s Pawn in the center with 1…d5, equalizing control of the center.
Black does not play the move 1…d5 and seeks to contest the center by other means.