Top Aggressive Openings Against 1.d4 | Intermediate Chess Lesson

In this video, I give a chess lesson to Korean American Chess Noob (aka David — rated ~1700) on various aggressive approaches to combat the Queen’s Pawn Opening, 1.d4. Be sure to check out David’s chill and awesome chess streams at

0:00 What should I call you?
0:42 Overview of d4 openings
2:05 The Aggressive Budapest Gambit
4:14 The Knight’s Tango
10:37 The Trappy Cambridge Springs Defense
21:48 Fighting the London
26:48 “Chizzling”
31:50 Tricky Anti-London variation
34:48 Dealing with the Jobava London
41:26 ANTI-LONDON PRACTICE GAME
58:27 Practice game analysis

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148 Comments

  1. So no one's gonna comment Joseph Gordon Levitt with Eric's demeanor and with glasses on!

  2. the asian guy reminds me of garlic bread with cheese

  3. Eric you are the best chess youtuber in the world, i love your videos from the bottom of my heart, it's so entertaining to watch you play and explaining people, you are very kind, and you explain all these chess traps in detail, and very nicely. And also happy birthday (belated) wish you the best of luck with your life, and keep up the great content, thanks so much Eric! You're the best!

  4. I'm a d4 player and Nf6 is my favorite response to d4

  5. Why is it called Budapest gambit when that was the kieninger trap?

  6. "sorry I know I'm asking so many questions" bro this is your chess lesson, how are you gonna not ask questions lol

  7. My father plays mostly d4, but when I play online I play against e4 most of the times , so I’m not really good at handling d4. So thanks Eric, I might surprise him next time we play 😈

  8. Please more Lessons for Players around 1500-2000 :_)

  9. These are both lovely, thoughtful people. To put this into context, picture the last time your dad tried to teach your sister Monopoly and how that turned out.

  10. I’ve been waiting for this video ever since the Chess Lesson with “Too Many Syllables” KoreanAmericanChessNoob. David is such a fan of yours and is the entire reason why he got into chess & streaming himself playing it. He was extremely nervous about the collab livestream but I think you made him as happy as you were when you got your first En Passant Checkmate. Looking forward to seeing a follow up collab!

  11. Are these the two most polite people in the world?

  12. watching the timer go down while the opponent had full time was very stressful

  13. Great video, thanks Eric. I like the look of the Knight's Tango, though I think i does run into the same problem as the Budapest, which is that white can play 2.Nf3 instead of 2.c4.

  14. Ah so this is why my opponents keep going agressive whenever i play D4

  15. I always see way more dangerous responses to these moves and then I end up in a worse position. I need a one hour “what if” session with Eric to answer some more questions lol

  16. noooo – keep quiet about the black knight tango

  17. FREE 4000+ rating opening repertoire in 1-minute video on my channel

  18. these are really good. love to see all the different lines and ideas and traps.

  19. Against d4 I like playing Old Benoni to make white feel off the track as they are usually London players.

  20. Ive been starting to play rated chess again and climbed a couple hundred points, but i keep having diificulties to know what to play against d4… i remembered seeing this video and came straight here 🙂

  21. Last living victim of the Red Dragon. As a blind person I find him to be very rude.

  22. The Traxler is also named after Wilkes-Barre, which is a city in PA. I don't know any other openings after American cities though.

  23. Video proposal: attacking schemes for black and/or white in London.
    P.S. Your videos are great, thx for the content and keep it up!

  24. Aaaa my dragon! Hey Eric got Some Sicilian dragon lessons??

  25. Eric, do you do lessons still? If so how would we get in touch for that?

  26. Hold my beer while I go watch his budapest video

  27. Wow, not only Eric is an awesome teacher in this video, as usual, but also KACN asks such great questions! Super instructive video, thanks for posting!

  28. What do you think about the dutch defense as an alternative aggresive response to d4?

  29. At my level (1100-1200) I barely ever get 1. d4……I guess that’s what all the Stafford videos are for!! Either way, thanks, Eric!!

  30. Thank you Eric. My FIDE rating is 1600 but I'm still searching for a tricky response against 1. d4

  31. This was a super helpful video, thanks Eric! I've been struggling for ages to find a comfortable response to d4 (I found the King's Indian tended to put me on the back foot, and then I had difficulty managing my King's safety in the Dutch). After working through this video, I played a couple of games in the Black Knight's Tango, both for wins! I found the resulting positions interesting, but also straightforward to get a handle on. Looking forward to digging further into the tango theory, and trying out your defensive ideas against the London. Thanks for the great content!

  32. Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit is a great choice if you want a fun and aggressive game. However, you have to accept that in some cases (less often then not) you will be a pawn down for nothing.

  33. 0:52 wow this guy's teaching his students world champion beating lines

  34. I’m so happy Na3 is literally one of the first things discussed in a London book I bought

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