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Thanks MNb - superlatively useful references. (For those interested - it's Tim Harding The Kibitzer on Chesscafe.com for June 1999 - "Have a Hack with the Hennig-Schara", and July 1999 - "Hennig-Schara revisited".) It's gonna take me a while to work through, and then maybe I'll face cxd4 only once again in future 

Harding is actually rather enthusiastic about it. Your assessment is clearly not an assessment yielded by Harding's researches !

I opted for Qxd4 instead of Qa4+ (mainly because I missed the obvious superiority of the latter), and then dithered for a long time on move 7, because I was worried about the apparent problems with castling that Black might cause me if I captured and exchanged queens, and was also worried about moving my queen around so much as White, who is supposed to be a tempo ahead. I therefore opted for the weird 7 e4, which I see (unsuprisingly) nobody else does (there is an e3, which is much better). I got into an inferior endgame as white and won only because of a generous mistake from my opponent at the end allowing a mating combination. What is comforting from the Harding discussions is that the perplexities I suffered in considering how best to respond as White are at least in good company.

Thanks again for the spot-on reference!

PS - How to remove the little [i] signs when doing italics?

Hello all. I should greatly appreciate some discussion of the best options for White against the Tarrasch when Black plays 4...cxd4 instead of exd5 (the Schara-Hennig gambit, which I now notice MNb has mentioned in this thread as a 'solution, though not ideal'). Qa4+ is better than Qxd4, as the likely interposition of the Bishop will allow the Queen to capture on d5 after doing so on d4. In 'opening explorer' on chessgames.com, there are relatively few games in the database that follow this line (about 100 to about 600 exd5). Is it because 4...cxd4 is that unsound?

So - pointers appreciated (and sites with similar kinds of opening databases even more appreciated!) MNb?

There is still a solution, though maybe not an ideal one.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!? the Von Hennig-Schara Gambit.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 the Noteboom
Black avoids the Marshall Gambit.

Another, more simple option is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 Bb4!? but I do not know what the current state of this variation is.

I own the Van der Werf/Van der Vorm book and I rather liked it. It is a good overview with good explanation. But in about 120 pages you cannot expect a complete treatment of course.

Concerning my taste ... must I repeat it?

@Mnb: Yes I already thought of the Noteboom...
Do you know any books about it?

Jono

Both Aargaad and Keilhack reckon in thier books, that the reason why Kasparov (or other top.GM`s) stopped playing the tarrasch is, there are to many drawing options for white.

Oviously both authers belive in the soundness of the system.

As an hobbyplayer who read in my freetime two tarrasch-books, dearly hope they are right!!!!

"I don't think highly of IZ"
Well, Ranjk, this seems to be the only point we disagree on. I must confess, that only recently (about two years ago) I got so much confidence, that I dared to play the IZ in an email game. So there is still hope for you!

"I don't think Grischuk would play an inferior system."
Why then did he face these problems against Lautier?
Why would Kasparov have given up the Tarrasch after 1984?
BTW, a few strong players have dabbled in the IZ - Short to name the strongest.
I do not really by such arguments. It is not Short, Kasparov or Grisjuk who plays your game; you have to do it yourself. If you trust the Tarrasch more than the IZ - then play it. For me, I can only say that I have reached excellent results with the IZ. But who am I after all?

I don't think Grischuk would play an inferior system.

He plays the Tarrasch but i can't remember if he ever played the Classical Dutch (or IZ) :p

I don't really trust the Stonewall but i strangely have a very good score with it: only one loss in around 10 games (+7 -1 =2) but my wins were almost all due to the opponent overpressing.

I have tried TD in Net-Blitz: I have had decent results despite not knowing much theory, and I also won lots of Black games when people transposed to the French

BTW, you can play me on echecs21.com. My Handle is of course Jonorigolo.

Jono