The Queen's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move: It is the second-most popular opening move after 1.e4 (King's Pawn Game).

As the merits of 1.d4 started to be explored, it was the Queen's Gambit which was played most often—more popular than all other 1.d4 openings combined.

The Black responses given below are ranked in order of popularity according to ChessBase for FIDE-rated games.

This move prevents White from establishing a full pawn centre with 2.e4.

Rarer tries include 2...e5 (Budapest Gambit) and 2...d6 (Old Indian Defence).

White can also play 2.Nf3, which like Black's move is not specific as to opening.

1...d5 is not any worse than 1...Nf6, but committing the pawn to d5 at once makes it somewhat less flexible since Black can no longer play the Indian Defences, although if Black is aiming for Queen's Gambit positions this may be of minor importance.

Also, a move like 2.Bg5 (Hodgson Attack) is considered relatively harmless compared to 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 since there is no knight on f6 for the bishop to harass.

A Queen's Gambit may arise anyway if White plays c4 soon afterward, but lines like the Colle System and Torre Attack are also possible.

A line that is unique to the 1...e6 move order is the Keres Defence, 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+.

Bibliography 1.Na3: Durkin 1.a3: Anderssen 1.b3: Nimzowitsch-Larsen 1.Nc3: Dunst 1.c3: Saragossa 1.d3: Mieses 1.e3: Van 't Kruijs 1.Nf3: Zukertort 1.f3: Barnes 1.g3: Benko 1.Nh3: Amar 1.h3: Clemenz