QGA Main line: 7th move.

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Spectator94

Hello all! I can't decide which path to choose in this variation:

There's so many possibilities with all their advantages and drawbacks. Bb3, dxc5, a4, Qe2, Bd3, Nc3 and even more moves in my database. I am a positional player with decent endgame technique so from that prospect dxc5 would seem to work well for me but it just seems meh. Can anyone brighten my horizon?
 

Spectator94

Edit: If I played it right now I'd go with 7. a4 simply to stop b5 as I don't really mind the hole on b4 for in the Slav Dutch main line it never really bothers me.

ViktorHNielsen

If dxc5, your name has to be Kramnik to understand why white has an advantage. Or so I heard. I recommend the IQP as an excellent positional line. You play the logical moves and suddenly you have a winning, sacrificial attack.

Spectator94
ViktorHNielsen wrote:

If dxc5, your name has to be Kramnik to understand why white has an advantage. Or so I heard. I recommend the IQP as an excellent positional line. You play the logical moves and suddenly you have a winning, sacrificial attack.

So that would be 7. Bb3?

pfren

I play 7.dxc5 myself, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Till_98

i prepared this opening for white with an IM. We chose the very intersting line Bd3 after which black can go wrong very easily. For example after Nc6, a3! Be7, bxc5 Bxc5, followed by b4, Bb2, Qe2 and Rd1. Black has to solve some serious problems here. So Bd3 is really a move that you might want to take a look at. Cheers, Till :)

pfren
Till_98 wrote:

i prepared this opening for white with an IM. We chose the very intersting line Bd3 after which black can go wrong very easily. For example after Nc6, a3! Be7, bxc5 Bxc5, followed by b4, Bb2, Qe2 and Rd1. Black has to solve some serious problems here. So Bd3 is really a move that you might want to take a look at. Cheers, Till :)

I admit that 7.a3 appeals to me more than 7.a4, which allows Black the luxury of a fairly solid structure against the isolated d4 pawn. But why Black should favor (7...b5 8.Bd3) Be7 instead of Bb7?

My playing experience says that the 7.dxc5(!) lines are way more dangerous than its appeals. Now on the (probably best) 7...Bxc5 I think white should avoid the obvious 8.Qxd8+, which gives white very little, in favour of 8.Qe2!. And the endgame/queenless middlegame after 7...Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Be2! is not easy at all for Black to handle.

White's most principled replay against the QGA is surely enough 3.e4, but it does need memorizing a lot of sharp lines, which ain't really my style.

Spectator94

Nice to see so many replies. I still cant really decide, I think I'll end up going with either a4 or Bd3.

Till_98

of course guys, Be7 is not a good move. I just wanted to illustrate of the ideas for white. Bb7 is the normal move instead of Be7. And yes dxc5 like Pfren plays it is also one of my favourite lines, a strong German FM got a really nice win with it this year. I just wanted to mention that for players who dont like to exchange queens so early, Bd3 is a good alternative. Cheers

pfren
Fiveofswords wrote:

you are right that 8 Qxd8 gives white very little...I dont think that Qe2 gives much either. But the funny thing about this is that you apparently dont want to play 7 Qe2? does 7...cd bother you? if you arent trading queens then something about this move order jsut seems unecessary.

The move order is VERY important!

7.Qe2 allows 7...b5 8.Bd3 cd4! 9.ed4 Be7 (9...Bb7 is also fine, IMO, there is no concrete play against the weakened e6 square).

I'd rather not allow Black to have a standard play against the IQP in such an easy way- hence 7.dxc5!

It does not matter if you think 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qe2 is harmless: it is not.

I won't give full details, but here is a sample sort-of-analysis.

The final position has occured in one of my correspondence games at LSS. I won't post the whole game, since it's still in advance, BUT if my analysis is correct, I will win.

The whole tactical line starting with 13.Rxd6! is my invention, formerly white played other stuff- understandably so, engines initially say that 13.Rxd6 is a bad move. Not the case! It gives white a large (probably winning) material advantage, although materializing is admittedly quite difficult.

Spectator94

Reflecting back on my old thread, I play 7. Bd3 and I really like it. It was a really hard choice 3 months ago.

pfren

Here is the whole game. Even if you find the opening boring, the endgame is very instructive- I tried to keep the annotations light.



Spectator94

I don't find the dxc5 variation boring, I seriously considered to play it actually. Thanks for your game and analysis it made for a very interesting read.

NBKXX

@pfren:

What's your opinion about the Furman-Line (5...c5 6.Qe2)? Looks like you want to play this set-up and don't want to allow cxd4 followed by Nc6, so I wonder if 6.Qe2 currently has a point, or is it just an inferior version of your move-order?

Edit: Can you please recommend some players/books to study, for good understanding of the 7.dc-Line?

pfren
NBKXX wrote:

@pfren:

What's your opinion about the Furman-Line (5...c5 6.Qe2)? Looks like you want to play this set-up and don't want to allow cxd4 followed by Nc6, so I wonder if 6.Qe2 currently has a point, or is it just an inferior version of your move-order?

Edit: Can you please recommend some players/books to study, for good understanding of the 7.dc-Line?

It's transpositional after 6.Qe2 a6. The idea 6...cxd4 7.exd4 Nc6 leads nowhere because of 8.0-0! when taking the pawn is bad. If you don't take the pawn, you will have Nimzo/ Panov IQP structures where the f1 bishop took on c4 in one go, and the extra tempo (Qe2) is extremely useful.

IMO the best QGA book, and probably the only good one, is Sakaev's on Chess Stars (also available cheaper, in Russian language).

Spectator94

Playing Avrukh's recommendation 7. Bb3 now Tongue Out