hi Peter

Another contributor to the site, great!

1.d4 isn't a queen's gambit yet. It's just a queen pawn opening. Queen's gambit is called 1.d4 d5 c4 where white tries to get the d5 pawn out of the way to get e4 in. The reason it's called a gambit is black can take the pawn which isn't really a gambit pawn anyway but that's a different story entirely

d4 e6 black plays this because he is most likely willing to enter a french defence 1.e4 e6 d4 d5 if white goes e4. Other than that I don't know why black should allow e4. Maby c5 is another option

On d3 white's bishop is way more active. The important thing is that at some point you'll want to play a pawn break. Probably c3 followed by e4. And your bishop contributes to that. Moreover it's a good attacking piece and attacks black's kingside, namely h7 pawn. This might seem unsignificant at the moment but as the game proceeds the bishop will most likely be better on d3 as it simply serves more functions here. There is of course nothing wrong with Be2 but it just seems more active on d3

c5 blocking the queenside is quite commital and not neccesary I think. Nc3 seems just more natural keeping the tension. At some point black will probably have to take on c4 ( capturing a flank pawn with a center pawn ) and play one of his pawn breaks either c5 or e5. Notice what your knight on c3 and the pawn on c4 does. It attacks black's d pawn so whenever black wants to play e5 or c5 he will have to surrender one defender of d5

Sorry, couldn't watch the whole video. Keep em coming!

The reason why black plays 1. d4 e6 sometimes is if white plays c4 he can go in to a Dutch defense without having to deal with the Staunton Gambit (2. e4) Of course, white can also go into a mainline french with 2. e4 d5.

Oh, yes. That's a good point

When white plays c5 I don't think Be7 is not best. Bc7 with a plan of Nbd7 preparing e5 and if necessary a prparitory Re8. If black can get in e5 he has a good game as all pieces, including the c8 B open up on whites Kingside.

I didn't realize that this actually got posted. I had intended it for the beginner section (that's clearly where it belongs), but somehow it ended up here. Thanks for the feedback! Hopefully I'll get my act together for the next video.

Just PM Josh and ask him to move the video. Having another contributor is great. I actually should contribute something myself, but I've been kind of busy lately.

Anyway, you'll getter better and faster making videos, everyone does.