This is an interesting discussion!  At this point I only want to point out that I never claimed White is "winning" after c6-c5, just that White should be happy.  I will need to do some research to see what top-flight games have continued this way.

Cheers!

Hello,

In Bareev's book on Kramnik's matches he mentions line 
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dc4 5.a4 e6 6.e4 Bb4 7.e5 Nd5 8.Bd2 b5 9pxb5 cxb5 giving evalution of unclear, although also says white has more than enough compensation for pawn. Also some light annotation of 9...BxN from an Alekine game leading to white advantage. Normally in Geller's gambit black responses to 9pxb5 with 9...NxN so Bb4 is causing black some problems, but not sure if enough to say black losing.
                               I agree with Girkassa that 6.e3 c5 leads to 7.a4 QGA with pawn a7, instead of a6. Think black can play all the normal lines to this in QGA lit, except those with Qc7 of course. For some reason the top players playing this move order play early c5xd4. Think this is because they think Bg5 lines less dangerous than Qe2, Rd1 ones but don't think this a-pawn dependent.

Bye John S

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 06/04/08 at 13:40:59:


Is it obvious that White gets an advantage over a QGA? The difference is that Black hasn't played ...a6, which I thought wasn't such a useful move in the 7.a4 QGA - instead I thought the reason not everyone plays 7.a4 was that it weakens the b4 square. Without ...a6 inserted, Black could perhaps play ...b6 instead, which is not that attractive with the pawn on a6. For example, after 6...c5 7.Bxc4 Nc6 8.0-0 cxd4 (amusingly, I see Mikhalevski has played 8...a6 here!) 9.exd4 Be7 10.Qe2 0-0 11.Rd1 we have a very usual position from the QGA except that Black's pawn is on a7 ISO a6. I fail to see why that is clearly in White's favour.

6.e4 seems to be the critical test, though. Looks like Black must be ready to play a somewhat inferior version of the Geller.

Hello,

Not sure any of this stuff is particularly clear cut. The line Chevalier gave tranposes to a line from Nooteboom variation, which looks playable for black. Whilst ones Smyslov_Fan looking at are Geller's Gambit with 8. Qc2 Bb4 thrown in. Find it hard to believe that Bb4 is such a bad move, makes black position unplayable.

Bye John S

I'm blind, I don't see Black being up a "solid extra pawn.  Black is temporarily up a pawn, but he doesn't even have good development to counterbalance his pawngrabbing away from the center after 5...e6.

Here's what I propose for White: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dc4 5.a4 e6?!/? 6.e4 Bb4 7.e5! as in the Alekhin-Bogo match game (1), 1929) or 7.Qc2 and if Black thinks he's playing the Cambridge Springs, he'll get clobbered.  White will regain the pawn soon enough, and black will be left with a passive position.

Chevalier's suggestion of 7.Qc2 b5? is gonna get smashed by 8.e5! (not Fritz' 8.Be2?!) Nd5 9.ab5 cb5 10.Bd2 Bc3 bc3 and even Fritz starts to recant on the material advantage! 

This is a sample game I played against Fritz:


1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.e4 Bb4 7.Qc2 b5 8.e5 Nd5 9.axb5 cxb5 10.Bd2 Bxc3 11.bxc3 a5 12.Ng5 f6 13.exf6 gxf6 14.Ne4 0-0 15.Be2 e5 16.dxe5 Bf5 17.0-0 Re8 18.Bf3 Rxe5 19.Rfe1 Nc6 20.Qb2 Rb8 21.Rad1 Qf8 22.Ng3 Be6 23.Bxd5 Bxd5 24.Bf4 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Rb7 26.Rd1 Qf7 27.Nf5 Kh8 28.Qd2    

Black is still up a pawn, but he's in a position only a computer could love.  In fact, Fritz' analysis went from a "solid pawn up" to equal. I doubt any human would defend the positions after 6.e4 as well as Fritz does.

The suggestion of playing 6...c5 gives White an advantage over normal QGA positions because a4 is a useful move in the QGA.  White doesn't even need to play 6.e4 to claim an advantage, but it is certainly the most principled move.

MarinFan wrote on 06/04/08 at 08:57:59:


6...Nf6 is illegal in that position - 3...Nf6 was played earlier!

Against the overambitious 6.e4, 6...Bb4 simply looks quite good for Black - he is up a solid extra pawn and White doesn't have a great deal of compensation for it, e.g. 7.Qc2 (7.Bg5!?) b5 8.Be2 Bb7 9.0-0 a6 -/+

Chevalier has made some interesting comments, but in books on the Slav, 5...e6?! is considered too passive to merit much attention.   

It isn't quite a Queen's Gambit Accepted, and it's not quite a solid Semi-Slav.  Personally, I think it's not quite sound enough to score well in practice.  (But it may do well in correspondence chess where defensive possibilities can be more fully explored.)

Hi all,
Wondering if people know about this line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 e6?????   I know of Bf5 of course ect but where can I find info on e6 and what do people think of it????
Thanks ahead of time,
ZATARA