Castleing first runs into
Queen's Gambit
I know the ideas fairly well (minority attack and advance in the center and sometimes Ne5 followed by f4)
The problem with the h6 line is that it's hard to prevent the exchange of dark-squared bishops and if the bishops are exchanged e3 becomes too weak after f3 leaving White with only the minority attack which also isn't as effective as in the line where the knight is on f3 because the knight is more active there. Also it blocks the retreat square of the bishop if Black ever plays c5-c4, forcing it to go to f5 where it will likely be traded as well.
So the only other option is 0-0-0 with a kingside attack but those lines don't promise much either (along with the fact that it's not so much in tune with my style of play.).
black trades some pieces, sure, white cant get everything in the QGD, this is why its considered a solid opening for black. Better to allow some exchanged imo (and like i said, blacks pices are not very badly placed) than to create some pretty clear weaknesses for black to jump onto.
The problem isn't so much that Black trades pieces, it's that by doing so it prevents one very important plan for white after which whitee doesn't have much of a chance for an advantage.
Now I'm considering a move order like
of black plays in a way which prevents f3 then you dont have to play it. there are other interesting ideas here. I like the idea of going for Ng3-f5 in the position you showed
White has many ideas, but somehow I think Black is somewhat better in this variation in the main line. My only question would be "why isn't this the main line??"
Also Ng3-f5 usually ends up in Bxf5 when Black's main problem is gone and though white probably has a small edge, black has a comfortable game with counter-play on the e-file; after all the knight can still possibly come to e4 after Qe7.
The main line goes as follows
Any suggestion?
So far this is what I (the computer) came up with (with quite a bit of sidelines)so far