Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...d5/2. c4/2...e6/3. Nc3

Queen's Gambit Declined
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) rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR b
Moves: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3

Queen's Gambit Declined

3.Nc3

After building a pawn center with their first two moves, White begins the development of their minor pieces with 3.Nc3. On c3, the knight controls the d5 and e4 squares. White would like to play e4 at some point to gain even more presence in the center, and 3.Nc3 facilitates this break.

White's dark-squared bishop will likely go to g5 after Black plays Nf6.

Theory table

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

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3

	3	4	5	6
Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav	... Nf6	Bg5 Be7	e3 O-O	Nf3 Nbd7	=
Tarrasch Defence	... c5	cxd5 exd5	Nf3 Nc6	g3 Nf6	=
Semi-Slav Defence	... c6	Nf3 Nf6	e3 Nbd7	Bd3 dxc4	=
	... Be7	Nf3 Nf6	Bg5 h6	Bh4 O-O	=
Dutch Stonewall	... f5	Nf3 Nf6	Bf4 c6	e3 Be7	+=

References

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