Suddenly, I found l almost never play QGA as black. When was a child, my coach said that QGD or Slav Defence is better than QGA, so l didn't spent much time to learn it.
Here is the question: Is QGA a good opening for black?
You are rated 2233 in rapid.
Why don't you tell us?
It is fine if studied in details. However it has some drawbacks as the resulting positions are completely different one line from another, and modern theory considers White has good chances for a small advantage after 3. e4.
@notmtwain, OP's otb rating could be 1800, for all we know. No true 2200+ player would wonder if QGA is a good opening.
I went through a course on chessable, and I think that the QGA is a good opening, as long as you like sharp positions.
Even in the QGD or Slav, you get a lot of theory. In the QGA, you can get positions that you know comfortably, but are still equal.
Many of the Stats come before the use of computers. In fact, at depth 45 on stockfish 12, it gives .25 advantage for white, and there are many improvements over the main line if you go through it.
I did check the database. From 2016 on, with players that are rated above 2000, white has a 30 percent win record with the QGA, and black has a 26 percent win record with the QGA. Not to different from the QGD statistics.
I like to play it. Just develop like normal and white gets frustrated. Do not play it like a guy did in my last game.
My 2nd game of the New Year
I never said the QGA was more popular, I said it was just as good.
I think it is not as popular because it is not as solid as the slav or QGD. However, it gives you excellent winning chances, even more so than the slav or the QGD. The Grunfeld also concedes space to white, but remains respected, and playable, just like the QGA
as I said, most databases take into account the pre computer era, where the QGA was not as popular. But if you look into databases from 2015 onwards, the QGA gives excellent winning records for black
Well, last month l saw GM Wang Hao played QGA with GM Yu Yangyi in an important tournament. I found it is interesting and black has a good chance. As I am not familiar with this opening I asked this question.
well maybe,
white can't castle
Jim Rizzitano wrote a book called How to Beat 1.d4. It is a repertoire book that focuses on the QGA with lines for other non-2.c4 openings. You might want to study this stuff and see how well you like it. The question of whether the QGA (or any other opening) is a good opening is the wrong question.
The QGA was played by many masters of the past and present. Alekhine, Reshevsky , Rubinstein , Kasparov and Anand to name a few. Its playable. Its a solid choice, but in the classical lines perhaps does not give many winning chances for black. Mosttly on the exchange variation. That said black can avoid the classical if he so wishes, using BG4 for instance. Best book avaiable today is the Understanding the queens gambit Accepted.
The QGA can gain equality in theory, like every major opening. What I've heard (I'm 2000) is the reason it is played less than QGD is because it gives white many options to play novelties and try to trip up black. It scores worse than the QGD also.
Suddenly, I found l almost never play QGA as black. When was a child, my coach said that QGD or Slav Defence is better than QGA, so l didn't spent much time to learn it.
Here is the question: Is QGA a good opening for black?