Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London System, Steinitz Countergambit: what to play after c5?

In the Accelerated London System, Steinitz Countergambit, White faces an immediate challenge to the center with Black's pawn push to c5. The engine's top-rated recommendation is Nf3, which develops the kingside knight and holds an evaluation of +0.14. This natural developing move controls critical central squares while preparing kingside castling and preserving flexibility in White's pawn structure.

The Strategic Value of Nf3

Choosing Nf3 represents a flexible development scheme that occurs in 25.8% of recorded games (919K recorded), leading to a 49.7% score for White. Rather than immediately committing the c-pawn, White focuses on piece coordination and king safety. An illustrative continuation demonstrating this setup follows Nf3 Nc6 Nbd2 e6 Bb5 Qb6, where White steadily introduces pieces to the queenside to contest Black's counterplay.

Alternative Options: c3 and dxc5

By far the most common human choice is c3, appearing in 61.3% of recorded games (2.18M recorded) with a 49.5% score and an evaluation of -0.09. This move solidifies the central d4 pawn at the cost of slight passivity, as seen in the line c3 Nc6 a4 Bg4 Be2 Bxe2. Alternatively, White can accept the offered pawn with dxc5, which ranks second with a +0.12 evaluation across 168K recorded games (4.7% of games, 49.9% score). A representative line runs dxc5 Nc6 Bb5 Qa5+ Nc3 a6.

Active Piece Play with Nc3 and Nd2

White may also develop knights directly to the queenside. The sharpest statistical performance belongs to Nc3, yielding a 60.3% score across 187K recorded games (5.2% of games, -0.02 evaluation), illustrated by Nc3 cxd4 exd4 a6 Nf3 Nc6. Meanwhile, Nd2 is chosen in 3.0% of games (107K recorded, +0.06 evaluation, 49.4% score) and can lead to Nd2 Qb6 Ngf3 e6 Rb1 Bd6.