Here's a little secret to playing the Black side of the Panov:

Don't worry about being a pawn down!

If it's an IQP, Black usually gets plenty of counterplay for it.  That's why such positional players as Seirawan and Speelman risked the ...g6 set-up.  They knew the IQP was going to fall at some point or else Black would get counterplay in another manner.

Eric, 

You say toe-MAY- toe, I say toe-MAH-toe.   

According to the ECO code D30-39 is your Semi-Slav. ECO and most old-fashioned books consider the Slav to be a type of Queen's Gambit Declined.  I never meant to disagree with you or get you upset.

If you read my posts closely, I said that Black does well when play goes into the D30-D69 ECO range.  We are not in disagreement.  (Ok, maybe we disagree over whether the Slav Defense is separate from the Queen's Gambit Declined.  But I hope we can get over that one.) 

When I mentioned another line (the Korchnoi-Yusupov game) I was not just addressing your suggested repertoire, but the original question.   

Cheers!

Eric, 

Your move order is of course fine and has been used countless times to get to QGD positions.  Since the QGD positions score reasonably well for Black, that's a fine transposition.  But only if Black is familiar with the QGD.  I used to expect players over about 2000 elo to know the basics of the QGD, but it seems that fewer players understand any openings and more memorise lines.  If Black understands the QGD, then 1...e6 is definitely the first-choice move.   

I still like 1...c6 because I'm paranoid.  I think White is trying to avoid the Slav lines and by playing 1.c4 secretly hopes for a QGD.  I think that's why so many Slav players have played both.

I did some statistical searches and here's what I found:

My parameters were:  Both players had to be over 2300 FIDE, and the games had to have been played since 1990.

1.c4 c6 is played less than half as much (about 2400) as 1.c4 e6 (about 5200).   

The results were about 57% for White (similar average ratings for both sides) after 1...c6

The results were about 56% for White after 1...e6.  There was a far greater percent of drawn games from this position.   

I ran a statistical search on 1.c4 c6 2.e4 and found that White scores 58%, and this occurs more often than all the games with 1.c4 c6 combined.  (Almost all the games started with 1.e4 c6).

I glanced at who played which lines against 1.c4.  Naturally, many Slav players played 1...c6.  But many also played 1...e6, notably Glenn Flear.  Many more played both moves and I'm guessing the choice depended mostly on the opponent.

There's a variation that Black should be aware of if he chooses 1...e6.



Kortschnoj,V (2625) - Jussupow,A (2615) [A18]
FRG Cup Cologne, 1990

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 d5 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3 e5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Be4 c6 11.d4 Bf5 12.Bg5 Qe6 13.d5 Qc8 14.Bxf5 Qxf5 15.dxc6 Nxc6 16.Qxd6 e4 17.Qd5 Qg6 18.Nh4 1-0


I looked at the stats broken down by ECO code.  After 1.c4 c6, Black did best when White played d4 and worst when White played Nf3 and b3.  The second most dangerous line was 2.e4.

After 1.c4 e6, White managed to play the Nimzo-Indian/QID complex quite a bit and scored well.  White also scored well against 2.d4 f5.  Black's best bet was the QGD D30-D69 main lines.

All this data suggests to me that if you want to play QGD lines, then 1...e6 may be the best for you.  If you want to play Slav types of lines, then you don't need to worry too much about 2.e4 because even at the highest levels it isn't played as much as it should be.  If you like the Slav, play both lines and give your opponents something to think about!

No, the Exchange is not a problem for Black. Alas, because I would relish this cheap way to duck the Noteboom. The fact, that the knight is still on g8 benefits Black. Eg 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 Bf5 is already equal.
Sometimes Black can play ...Ne7 combined with Nb8-d7-f6, which seems to save tempi.

Surely 1...Nf6 prevents any king's pawn pushes.  After that, MNb and Eric are providing good direction.  If you play the Caro Kann, 1...c6 isn't so bad (1...e6 does invite Catalans)...

I will look for some variations in the triangle like catalan or marschall gambit,
if I shouldn't be satisfied with the g6-panov-variation.

Actually the white players often think they can get the black player out of their repertoire playing e4,
but in fact they only get them out of their common theory, but not really out of their positions,
it is them, the english players, who get out of their positions they are used to, they are used to play all the closed positions c4 d3 g3 Bg2 b3 Bb2 ... but with c4 c6 e4 d5 there are not anymore many pawnchains ...
it's actually the slav player who is getting his common positions ... you have a psychological advantage ...
of course all this is not relevant on gm level, but this is on my level ... 

Changed my mind, I will give 1.c4 c6 a try, after e4 in the panov-attack I will play d5 with a later g6,
looked up some games, it is not that unpromising, 
at least it shouldn't be on my level
I also have some experience in the acc. dragon, I think because of the IQP,
the panov-attack with is a bit better than the acc. dragon, not that drawish.
Dreev won some nice games in the panov,
the panov attack is an inferior variation anyway, I should be glad to get it at the board ...