queens gambit

Since d4 is probably white's best first move, along with d5 being black's, the queens gambit can and should occur quite often. If black accepts it, he can barely hold onto the extra pawn(he can but it is difficult). Do you think it is better to accept it, or decline it(and possibly use the lasker trap or elephant trap)?

   First of all, players of Bobby Fischer's generation would hold that e4 is the best first move on the chess board.  Positional players probably prefer d4.

   Secondly, in Queen's Gambit Accepted games most players of Black do not try to hold the pawn.  There is really only one instance where they can successfully (and White must cooperate).  You take the pawn and develop your pieces as fast as possible.  That is the name of the game. The QGA became popular with such grandmasters as Nigel Short, Vishy Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Jan Timman, Robert Hubner, Jon Speelman, Max Dulgy and Patrick Wolf (according to Glenn Flear who plays it and who wrote a book on it).  That would make it a clear choice.  On the other hand the QGD it is Black who chooses the variations and has more choices of where to take it.   

   I believe that most QGD players do not know all the traps they can use in the Cambridge Springs Defense.  I prefer it for Black.  The QGD proper is not always allowed because White has a minority attack in the exchange variation at his disposal which is very restrictive.  PAWN STRUCTURE CHESS, by Andy Soltis gives a good evaluation of the exchange variation and minority attack in the QGD.

   Here is a quote from the Soltis book, "In the 1927 world championship match the Queen's Gambit Declined occured in 32 of the 34 games...the arrival of the Indian systems was a welcome change".  Although I have never seen any of Kasparov's games with the Cambridge Springs Defense he apparently did a good job of recycling it.     

First of all, black can hold onto the pawn even if white chooses the variation(and there are only two). Second, the cambridge springs is part of a trap(the elephant trap). You are right in saying most players don't hold onto the pawn, possibly because it can make blacks position bad. Black does have quite an assortment of QGD variations(just about 2 or 3, but they can be really good if white isn't careful). And e4 cannot be the best move, since c5 makes white lose the initiative with an imbalanced positon(and it has some nasty knight moves that can follow). D5 and white must either take(which allows black to control the majority of the center, white gains tempo, and black regains it with a choice of variation) or white can lose tempo defending it. Maybe even the fred defense(f5) offering the kings gambit(sort of, but weaker without that tempo).

Black cannot successfully hold the pawn. If you think so, post variations.

Dogmatism and chess do not mix well. This is why the stronger players are usually more balanced. e4 and d4 are probably of equal strength and with very different strategies. d4 is more about controlling extra territory while e4 is more about mobilizing all the forces and striking quickly. Moreover, the Sicilian does not take White's initiative away, it just gives Black some initiative too because the game is imbalanced and extremely complicated. White tends to retain an edge and often gets vicious attacks. In fact, 1. ...e5 is now much more popular at the top level probably for this reason.

BTW: e4 is possibly very slightly stronger since it doubles the performance rating differential for playing White at the 2600+ level and in engine matches.

After d4 d5 c4 dxc4(queens gambit accepted, here are variations of how to try to take it(black can hold on). Qa4 Nc6 Qxc4 Q or Nxd4(creating a new "extra pawn" which is king of like holding onto the extra pawn. e3(going back to the QGA) b5 a4 Bd7. Or maybe e3 Qd5.

srn347 and exigentsky, 

1.d4   1.d5  

2.c4   2.dxc  

3.Nf3   3.c6  

4.e3   4.b5  

5.a4   5.Qb6  

6.axb   6.cxb  

7.Ne5?!

...was considered best here, a winning move for White - but Black can successfully keep the pawn.  White must play c3 instead.

.....    7.e6   

8.Nxf7   8.Kxf7  

9Qf3+   9.Nf6  

10.Qxa8    10.Bb4+  

11.Kd1    11.Nc6 

traps the Queen 

AND....12.Rd8....13.Bb7     Winning the White Queen.