The game I mentioned in my previous post has now been covered in the most recent 1.d4 d5 update!

The debate continues. Here's a new game played yesterday:

Rustam Kasimdzhanov- Robert Ris, Antalya 2007
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6
9. d5 exd5 10. exd5 Bd6 11. Nxc4 O-O 12. Be2 Na6 13. O-O Nb4 14. Bg5 Re8 15.
Rc1 a6 16. Kh1 h6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Ne4 Bxe4 19. fxe4 Qe7 20. a5 Rad8 21. Bh5
g6 22. Nxd6 Qxd6 23. Bf3 Re5 24. Qb3 Kg7 25. Rfd1 Rd7 26. Rc4 Rde7 27. Qc3 Na2
28. Qd2 Nb4 29. Kg1 h5 30. b3 Rd7 31. Rdc1 Rc7 32. h3 Kh7 33. Rd1 Kg7 34. Qf2
Kg8 35. Be2 Kg7 36. Bf3 Kg8 37. Rc3 Kg7 38. Kh1 Kg8 39. Qg3 Kh7 40. Rc4 Rce7
41. Be2 Rc7 42. Rc3 Rd7 43. Rxc5 f5 44. Rc4 Rxe4 45. Qxd6 Rxd6 46. Bf3 Rxd5 47.
Rxd5 1-0

So Kasimdzhanov repeated Radjabov's treatment against Bareev (9. d5 ed5 10. ed5) and managed to get a position with a slight edge, but perhaps its nothing special. Black was holding well until  42... Rd7?! spoilt everything. Any thoughts? 

according to the ad for CBM 116: Shirov apparently seems to suggest no advantage can be found for White in this 8... Bg6 variation 

http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=312

"in Moscow Shirov decided to take up against Gelfand the discussion of the Slav Defence started in the WCh match between Kramnik and Topalov. In view of the fact that Gelfand had then been one of Kramnik’s seconds, Shirov admits that that may not have been wisest of decisions. In his analysis in Video-Format Shirov goes into the most varied attempts which White can make to achieve a tangible advantage over Black. The judgment he has to make on his game against Gelfand is just as sobering as his evaluation of White’s chances in general."

my copy will arrive shortly , then will see what he says!

You weren't playing Stefan Bucker, were you? 

i think Markovich is saying that a White player who only has 4. Nc3 QGA and 4. e3 Slav in his repertoire will be tricked out of his Slav prep with 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6.
will say 8... Bg6 endgames are tougher than the Berlin, since Black is swapping more pieces, has a far safer king, and even has a better pawn structure !

Quote:


The system with 4. e3 doesn't solve the problem for those who want to play 4. Nc3 versus the QGA.  And I agree with you that White *should* be better after Kramnik's 7...c5  8. e4 Bg6.  I doubt if I would change my repertoire if I were a 6. Ne5 player.  I would just keep playing this way and do my best to win the resulting positions, notwithstanding all the fretting that everyone is doing about this line.  Eventually, I predict, some strong GM as White will defeat some other strong GM in this line, and everyone will say, "Ah, GM Lolipopsky has shown the way!"  So in the meantime, why bother learning a whole new system?

Actually I think it pays -- at least as White -- to adopt such a contrarian attitude toward much of chess opening fashion.  Eventually your opponent will have to >play chess<,  you know, and his holding forth a journal article where the given position is claimed "equal" isn't going to be sufficent for the draw.

Radjabov-Bareev ACP Rapid 2007 played yesterday may provide some answers: 

[Event "ACP Rapid"]
[Site "Odessa UKR"]
[Date "2007.01.05"]
[White "T Radjabov"]
[Black "E Bareev"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2643"]
[PlyCount "70"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4
Bg6 9. d5 exd5 10. exd5 Bd6 11. Nxc4 O-O 12. Be2 Na6 13. O-O Nb4 14. Bg5 h6
15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. Ne4 Bxe4 17. fxe4 Qe7 18. Bh5 Rad8 19. Qe2 Be5 20. Kh1 g6
21. Bg4 Bg7 22. Rae1 Rfe8 23. Qd1 Qg5 24. Qf3 Kh7 25. Bh3 Nc2 26. Rd1 Qe7
27. e5 Nd4 28. Qxf7 Qxf7 29. Rxf7 Rxd5 30. Rxb7 Kh8 31. e6 h5 32. Rd7 Rd6
33. Rd8 Rd7 34. exd7 Rxd8 35. Re1 Rb8 1-0

Actually the line Radjabov played was already in my analysis up to move 17(!), but i thought Black was fine there, looks like Radjabov saw deeper, and that its not easy to hold two central pawns in practice!