The history of the Queen's Gambit isconnected with the very beginnings of modern chess. The opening being cited inthe earliest published books on the science game, such as the Göttingen manuscript(1490) and the books of Ruy Lopez (1561) and Salvio (1604). The so-calledQueen's Gambit Declined - or refused - is, together with the Slav, the maindefense in the universe of Queenside openings, and shares with theaforementioned defense a well earned reputation for being a reliable and verysolid scheme.To make a book considering each and everypossibility arising from the opening position of the Queen's Gambit Declined isa cyclopean task that would demand many volumes like the present one.

Instead, the author's aim was to present a simpler repertoire, with no more than one or twovariation options for each important position (in the latter case we presented a more positional and a more aggressive line, although in many casesthese boundaries are blurred).

The last section of the book is devoted to the other possible schemesstarting from different white moves on their third or fourth move. Here thechapters on the Catalan order 3.g3, which is among the fashionable lines at themaster level, and the move 4.e3 (preceded by a knight move to the third rank)are highlighted.Each section presented here is composed ofseveral chapters in which theory is developed with an emphasis on the mostmodern choices in practice. At the end of each chapter the author presented analyzedgames that expose the most common ideas in middlegames.

We hope that by the endof reading this material the reader will not only have incorporated some newideas into his repertoire - and perhaps changed the idea that the Queen'sGambit Declined is a passive defense - but also have contributed to his generalknowledge of chess.