Sulava played this line (or something similar) against me in Cappelle La Grande 2001.

I obtained a superior position after the opening but in the end "only" achieved a draw (although at this time that was a big achievement, since I only had 2320 at this time and he was being rated 2530).

I am not at home (again), but will be tomorrow. I can dig up the game then and post it here, maybe it will give some insights.

I concur, the line with 3...Bg4 and 4...Qd7 followed by ...0-0-0 is dangerous for Black.

However, Black can play differently. A nice setup is 3...Bg4 4.Bg2 e6!, e.g. 5.0-0 Bd6 (but NOT 5...Nf6? when 6.Ne5! is annoying) followed by Nf6. Depending on White's (re-)action, Black can, in my opinion, achieve a good game.

I started playing the Chigorin Defence in 1999 after I have discovered the (at this time) terrific book by Dunnington.

I still use it as my only weapon against 1.d4, and even at a higher master level it served me quite well. I frequently use it even against IMs/GMs, and last season in the German Bundesliga I drew GM Gabriel (in a winning position, grr), lost to GM Nyback (but only after I blundered in an equal position) and beat GM Krasenkov (2671).   

I hope not to sound too confident (and I certainly do not want to brag with my results; I just want to give you an idea what a powerful weapon Chigorin can be), but I dare to consider myself an expert of this opening. Here are my two cents for the things already being mentioned.

First of all, I do think, too, that Black should play 2...Nc6! after 2.Nf3 - Although I do think that the best way for White to continue is 3.e3!? ... but I will cover this later.

Numerous possibilities have been mentioned here, which I will refer to one by one (Since 3.c4 transposes to main lines, I won't say anything about that in this topic):

3.Bf4

This line seems to be feared by some players, but just because it seems to be boring. Well, in a way it is, but in the same way it is just White giving up any hopes for an advantage. It is too much to describe the best setup, but I took the time to write a little summary with a few annotated games on my homepage. Unfortunately it is only in german, but it should be easy enough to understand. The link is:

http://www.schachmaterialien.de/Tschigorin/einleitungt0.htm

3.Bg5

I consider this a waste of time. Black can reply 3...f6! and obtain a good game. After 4.Bf4 Black gained a precious tempo after 4...Bg4 - f6 does not weaken the position but rather helps to support the important break ...e7-e5. White can't play 5.e3?? (5...e5 wins a piece) nor 5.Nbd2? (5...Nxd4 followed by ...e5 gives black an excellent game).

White can do 4.Bh4, but as already mentioned Black has the possibility of 4...Nh6 followed by ...Nf5. White is forced to retreat his bishop to g3, where it is harrassed by ...h5 (threatening ...h4). White will have to play h3 or h4 then, but after the trade on g3 the white pawn structure is severly crippled.

Finally it should be mentioned, that 3.e3!? is an interesting alternative. The idea is to play 4.Bb5! after 3...Bg4, with a possible threat of c4 followed by Qa4 and Ne5. Black has to play very carefully, I recommend a setup with ...e6 and ...Nge7 (do NOT develop the bishop to d6, it will have problems after a white c4), the bishop f8 is to be developed via g7. I haven't had much practical tests yet, but this looks interesting.

I just started playing the Chigorin, and met 3.Nc3 (after 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.d4 d5) I agree with Fernando Semprun that this is boring.  In the game I became adventurous and tried to spice things up by playing 3...f5   trying to play like the dutch...

Looks quite interesting, what do you think?

After 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bg5 is interesting.  What about 3...Qd6!? threatening ...Qb4+.  Black might be able to get in a decent ...f6 and ...e5.  Also interesting would be ...f6 and then ...Nh6.  3...h6 4.Bh4 g5 looks weakening but I'm not so sure it's that bad either.

I'm not so sure about 3.Nc3...never seen it played.  Dunnington's book has the reply to 3.Bf4.  I know Black plays 3...Bg4, but unsure how it expands from there as it's been 4 years since I've played the Black side, and as White, I'd play 3.c4 (I have had a couple of tournament games start 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nc6 3.c4 Bg4, and now, instead of 4.cxd5, I'm beginning to look at 4.Nc3).

The book I have that I use at this point for the Chigorin doesn't cover 3.Bf4 as it's a reportoire book for White (Opening for White According to Kramnik, Volume 4).

I played the Chigorin back in 1999.  Black should play 2...Nc6!  If White replies 3.c4, you have transposed to the 3.Nf3 variations of the Chigorin.  Otherwise, White really has only 2 legitimate replies aside from 3.c4, those being 3.Bf4 and 3.g3, neither of which cause Black any problems provided he knows the lines.  They are both quite insipid (kinda like the 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.e3 lines).  While the book is now 7 years old, I still would recommend getting Angus Dunnington's book on the Chigorin Queen's Gambit if you haven't gotten it yet.  It gives some brief coverage of what to do when White doesn't comply.