MNb, I know White has better moves on move 5...the old 5.Bc4?! and of course the newer 5.Bb5! are both probably better (actually, maybe 5.Bc4 isn't any better than 5.Be2, but whatever)...

Anyway I'm not going to get into a discussion of the main line of the GPA (5.Bb5) in this thread; that's why I named it "Interesting GPA sideline.  I wanted to show this interesting (at least for Blitz) idea of getting the knight into d6.  I'm sure a few people can enjoy springing 5.Be2, 6.d4, 7.Nb5, & 8.e5 on unsuspecting opponents.  If you want to discuss the mainline GPA, I suggest creating a new thread.

I agree that Black is fine here (I play this from the Black side only), but I thought I'd post it anyway.  I think there's a few club players that would get nervous after 8.e5 in the line I gave, seeing that the knight is about to hop into d6.

Last night in blitz I ran across this idea, which I'd never see before:

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 e6 6.d4!? cd 7.Nb5.  I guess the main idea is 7...d5 8.e5, though Black is still probably fine after 8...Nh6 9.Nd6+ Kf8.  Note that now the natural 10.Nxd4?? loses a piece (I'll let you find the win)!

Of course Black has other fifth moves, and maybe 6...Nxd4 is better.  Anyway, I did a quick database check and it seems like this has been played a few times, though without particularly good results.  It seems interesting for Blitz, though.

Any comments?  Just thought I'd share this with everyone.