This is part of my series of notes on the most common positions I find myself in when playing the Queen’s Gambit. This is my favorite opening when playing the white pieces and I have been studying it for some time. The act of writing things down helps me organize my thoughts and memorize what I have learned.

The format of these notes is as follows:

• Name of Opening/Variation
• Move list in Chess notation
• One or more paragraphs of notes
• Evaluation of good or bad moves from this position

Slav Defense

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6

I must admit that I have not studied the Slav Defense as much as I have the Queen’s Gambit Declined or Queen’s Gambit Accepted. However, I do have two recommendations for white moves here.

• Nf3 is a solid move because the knight will certainly be involve in the game at some point and is not under immediate threat.
• Bf4 is a good idea here because we can target the knight on b8 now that the c pawn is not in the way. We have a lot of options for where the bishop can go from here. It is a safe move at this point with no real downsides. Don’t hesitate to kill the knight with the bishop unless you are player who prefers to keep your bishops alive. There is some matter of preference when it comes to the value of knights vs bishops.

As I play more games in the Slav defense, I may have more to say here. The Slav Defense has its own merits even though it is not as popular as other responses to the Queen’s Gambit.