Paddy, 

Castlerock was right, 

I was upset at your decision to attack me personally.  I was careless about the move order in the Kasparov games.  Even so, exchanging one set of pawns doesn't make the game "=". And referring me to some dead thread as if I'm an idiot who can't read didn't help.  

I don't want to read through pages and pages of previous forae to find the one comment that you don't even refer to.  If there is another comment in another thread, please let us know.

Now on to your comment that cxd5 lacks bite in the "Triangle" defense:  The Kasparov-Andersson game has specific relevance to that opening because it did indeed transpose into your defense if Black plays ...Nf6.

I doubt that Kasparov played his move order to avoid the VHS Gambit, but  I guess you'd have to ask him about why he did it in that move order.

Castlerock, Yeah, Beliavsky is indeed the White Knight of the Exchange Variation, but there are others who use the weapon at least occasionally....

I stand by my initial assertion that while I don't prefer to release the tension so early, a single exchange of pawns can't make the game a boring draw in and of itself.  

The Exchange variations which are followed up by ...Bf5 Bd3 and ...Bxd3, are probably the easiest ways to agree to a draw before move ten, but if you eliminate those early draws from you search the remaining games are often tremendous fights with White holding a significant statistical edge.

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Are there top 100 games with 3.cxd5? Now I know a Beliavsky - Geller in that move order. Aside of that I'm reasonably sure there won't be GM games in that move order. So obviously Kasparov did not play that move order.

What SF wrote was, perhaps, due to his anger at at the claim of 3.cxd4+!! There is lot of play left even after Bf5. Have a look at Beliavsky - Geller. I'll dig into the database and post it later. Equality after Bf5 and white's win after Nge2 are, imho, beaten to death over rated concepts.

Relaxing the pressure on d5 is not a great idea in QGD and hence 3.cxd5 is not a great way to get into QGD exchange,from white's perspective. Hence Nc3 and Bg5 are included.

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Hey SF, it might save us all a lot of time if you did your homework by reading ALL the earlier posts here, otherwise we will be constantly having to "re-invent the wheel". Please check out the thread

QGD Exchange - pig ignorant question

which should help clarify a few things!

I guess, Rasco deserves some explanation.

1.  1. d4 d5 2.c4 e6 avoids exchange slav but welcomes QGD exchange with early c6 and Bf5 from black side. White has nothing after exchanging light colour bishop on d3 square. Black has pretty easy and comfortable play, if white chooses to play Nf3.

2. By resorting to this move order, you have the option to play semi-slav, QGD exchange and Catalan as black. But Slav systems with early Bishop sortie to f5 or g4 is not possible because of e6.

3. So if you are comfortable with semi-slav (I am not) 2...e6 could be a good move order. If you are not, you have to play 2...c6 and accept exchange slav, along the way.

Kaufan's book recommends e6 immediately after white plays c4. This is because the repertoire is built around semi-slav and not slav and it wants to avoid exchange slave.

Hope this helps.

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6.  Don't worry about 3.cd5 =

- Lost Highway

Really? I'm no expert but surely the problem is an early Nf3 means White can't stop ...Bf5. That's traditionally thought of as totally equal, isn't it?

Sorry about the notation. Nc/f3 was what I meant, of course. That wasn't the only typo either....

If you want equality rather than a fight, then 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf/c3 Nf6 4 Nc/f5 e6 is the sensible (and traditional) option. White has now lost the chance of a 'proper' QGD exchange if he takes on d5 (you play ...exd5). This way White's only real exchange option is the Slav exchange.

If on the other hand you want to take back with the e-pawn, then it has to be 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6. 3 Nf3 e6 now is fine but if White plays 3 Nc3 then you either have to go 3...c6 and allow the very dangerous 4 e4 gambit, or else go 3...Nf6 and allow 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bg5 with a 'proper' QGD Exchange.

These are some of the move order issues I see:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.cxd5 doesn't give white much, while 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 is slightly more interesting for him (some may say that's also really boring, but grandmasters have played the Slav exchange with vaguely ambitious ideas in mind). Similarly I assume that 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 and 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 are just transpositions to the slav echange.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 is of course a highly critical line of the QGD exchange (there's also 4...Nxd5 for those who like the resulting positions for black, which I don't). 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 slighty limits white's options, but is certainly also feasible.

After both
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.nf3 e6 4.cxd5 exd5
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.nc3 e6 4.cxd5 exd5
black has a by far greater choice than usual, he can either head for the QGD exchange mainline (he might e.g. be tempted to do so in the 3.Nf3 move order?!) or he can aim for a Stonewall, where white has exchanged his c-pawn against the black e-pawn (which I believe is supposed to be not such a good idea for white). Can anyone else think of some other options? I'm sure there are some more (possibly something with Bf5 or Bg4? Or with Ng8-e7?!).

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 is a pathetic variation for white (4...dxc4!), while 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 is a mainline and certainly okay for white (and black).

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 is certainly a mainline, too, in fact even one that limits black's QGD options a bit (but also 3.Nf3 in general makes the cxd5 exchange less interestng for white, even though it's of course still playable, but white's options are more limited then), while I'm not sure what to think of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5, I've never seen it discussed, but my suspicion is that 4.Bg5 is just as bad as after 3.Nc3.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 gives white options like the gambit 4.e4, or the variation 4.e3 Nf6 5.Qc2 etc., on the other hand after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6 there's 4.Bg5 and also 4.Qc2, which might either lead you into a variation like 4...Nf6 5.Bg5 (as recommended by Khalifman) or e.g. also the Catalan (4.Nf6 g3).

Mmh, yes, those are the points that immediately sprang to my mind.