Countering the Queen's Gambit

I have some friends that play the queen's gambit and was wondering on good ways to defend it.  I did some research and ran into the Albin Countergambit, where the game starts: 1. d4,d5 2. c4, e5

I've found this to be very good for black, attacking early on and undermining white's goals.  

Also, a great opening showed to me by a friend is the Nimzo Indian, where the game starts: 1. d4, Nf6 2. c4, e6

Nimzo also leads to a great game for black, bringing out a good position in any situation and usually baffling most Gambit players.

I am interested in any other counters to the Queen's Gambit. Nimzo and Albin work very well, but it's great to know as many as possible to be able to manipulate many possibilities.

Please post what you know!

Ahh...well...going back to Nimzo Indian, I had a game where it went 1. d4, Nf6 2. Bg5, ??. I found e6 worked really well from there?

http://www.chess.com/livechess/analysis.html?id=26758627

I'm a wood-pusher, admittedly, but I agree with Fiveofswords. I like to use QG, although I've been trying to learn the English lately.

I always feel a little less comfortable when my opponent plays QGA vs QGD because I've just had so much more experience with QGD. It's how most players here seem to respond. I have a feeling I'm not alone in this. At least at this low of a level.

Ahh thanks for that information; I don't really know that much about correct plays or openings, I just wing it.

Wow! Now I'm all interested in what possibilities 3 e4 leads too. Seems like a really aggressive response. I hadn't even really considered that move. At my level, that's not surprising, I guess. : (

Seems like it might be worth my while though. Like everyone else, I come up against a lot of players using the QG. Knowing a different response other than the ones I usually use would be great. 

Yeah, 3.e4 is quite interesting. Personally I go for the much quieter 3.e3, but the e4-push (with the standard e5 reply by Black) leads to some interesting positions as well. Usually more tactical than the 3.Nf3 or 3.e3 versions, too.

I tried the Albin Countergambit for quite a while in the past...as far as I can tell it's not unsound, though it's difficult to find much information on it.

I prefer to play aggressive as black. I like the Accelerated Dragon, etc. My strength isn't in tactical play though. This might be a hard response for me to control after the book opening then. 

Still, I'm going to try it, next time I get the chance (after a little research). If I ever get to the level of play of some of those commenting here, I may have to reconsider. However, that's a ways off.

Thanks to you all for a good discussion. 

Play the Slav. They hate it and they can't avoid it.

Ahaha I totally misread the text. My bad.

I'm dpwivagg's friend that plays the QGA/D. Just some advice: if you're a true QG player you are fimiliar with all the positions and potential outcomes from different defences. The nimzo is a great way to defend a d/c4 because it puts unneeded pressure on white's c3 knight, which is pretty uncomterable. The important and crucial thing about playing the nimzo is knowing when to move the bishop/take the knight. Lots of players release the pressure on the knight too soon and the end result is catastrophic for black.

Well, imo don't play the Albin Countergambit side-line stuff...

The Nimzo is a good choice as well as the Slav,QGD, or Semi- Slav

Or you can go for a KID or a Benoni (I prefer Benoni to KID when I am playing for a win) :D

Mostly any main line opening is fine. I find the Albin Countergambit just trash unless your opponent falls for the Lasker Trap...

And yea against the Trompowsky attack , play the c5 line. As black, I usually play c5 against every non mainline d4 response since I like the Benoni Defense lol.

give a try to the modern benoni ^_^.I love it!

Interesting line, conzipe! Will have to take a little more tome when I can and look at it more closely. Thanks.  : )

try the chigorin

Whatever you do don't play c5 as a reply to 2. c4, it slows depvelopment and cramps black's position.

i used to play the slav with good results, but i've recently been playing the benoni/benko gambit and i'm enjoying that so far.

Why not Nc6?

what about the tarrasch defence? suddenly black is the attacker but you have to like IQP positions.

 what tactical trick are you talking about in the chigorin, I just started playing the it and don't think I'm aware of this trick.

dpwivagg i dont why fiveofswords dont like the tarrasch. maybe he dont like isolated pawns since it could be a pawnweakness later on in endgame but there is nothing wrong about the tarrasch and its recommended by many strong players and you can use it against almost everything exept 1.e4 and you get alot of play for the weakness. check out some games and decide for yourself:) btw the isolated pawn is not as easy to take as it may look like