Some people can decline a Queen's gambit, but this guy flat out refused it. XD

As white you should always be happy with the symmetry since you always have the advantage of the extra tempo. Just have to play correctly and the game is in your hands.

As black, ofc, I always avoid symmetry, or at least I avoid it completely when tension starts to build up on the board.

I'm no expert but at a quick glance 2 aggressive lines put white on a clear advantage.
5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 and white is a pawn ahead.
5.cxd5 Qxd4 6.Nf3 and white has a stronger centre.

Looking at the stats it also seems clearly better than the conservative 5.Nf3, which fails to take advantage of the extra initiative.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I didn't know about it, so today I had a hard time figuring out what to do against 2... c5.

Most of my moves seem correct to me. Any bad decision till the bad move Toga found in 9.e4?

Good thing to know

I hate playing it, among with the Philidor's Defence my least favorite opening by far, although I do not score badly against both...

>> well the statistics speak clearly. not an opening to play as black.

Well, if you combine the chances of black winning and the chances of a draw (which is not an unfavorable result for black in any regard), this seems to be a pretty solid opening for black!

You could see it as the Petrov's defense, but for the 1.d4 opening.

strange !!

well the statistics speak clearly. not an opening to play as black.

Never played that!

Weird...

i like this one for both black and white