I know this game extremely well as you could guess! 

JamesH wrote on 06/03/11 at 17:27:26:


This seems to be indeed a very critical line. I would say that it is very difficult to play for the win for White if Black accepts a slightly inferior position but in theory he plays for a slight edge without too much risk. I believe that there are at least 3 ways to equality here for Black. I don't know which line will be the main recommendation finaly in the book (but i can imagine what it will be) but in any case we will offer the alternative recommendations in the QC's site or inside the book in the form of an appendix. This was Jacob's idea in order for everybody to see that we have worked on any possible solution and to show the amount of work we have done and why we propose what finaly we are going to propose as our main line.

I have played the tarrasch exclusively since i started playing, but now am finding it difficult to get more than equality after the dxc5 mainline : 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd exd 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Bg5 d4 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Nd5 Qd8 13.Nd2 Re8 14.Rc1 

and now i have tried 14... Bb6 but black is generally forced into a worse after (14...Bb6 15.Nc4 Bg4 16.Re1 Ba5 17.Nxa5 Qxa5 18.b4! Nxb4 19.Qxd4 Nxd5 20. Qxg4 with a nice edge for white. 

Grischuk has played 14... Bf8 but after 15.Nb3 Be6 16.Nf4 Qb6 17.Bxc6! Bxb3 18.axb3 bxc6 19. Rc4 white has nice pressure against the d4 pawn and black bishop feels slightly passive, also generally speaking, the  Q+K combination is more effective than the Q+B.

So yeah, this seems to be causing some problems.. ideas anyone?

@markovich, it seems the top GMs are using the gruenfeld as a dynamic system to try and gain an initiative, there are lots of good games to reference in that aswell, i also believe there will be a "Grand master repetoire" book released on it by boris avrukh, so maybe check that out.

Stefan Buecker wrote on 05/26/11 at 15:58:34:

Yes and 4.Nf3 cd4! 5.Nd4 Nf6 6.Bg5 e5!

Markovich wrote on 05/26/11 at 15:25:49:

I nominate the NID and after 3.Nf3 the Manhatten/Westphalia (..d5, Nbd7, Bb4).

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. cxd5 exd5 6. dxc5 d4 7. Na4 b5 8. cxb6 axb6 9. e3 Bb4 10. Bd2 Bd7 

As I stopped playing the Tarrasch Defence over 20 years ago I can't say if this is in acceptable theoretical shape today. But it was a way Black could avoid the easy endgame for white after 7. - Bxc5 with some risk.

Just a quick question regarding the 6.dc5: line - 
[ 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.cd5: ed5: 6.dc5: d4 7.Na4 Bc5: 8.Nc5: Qa5+ 9.Qd2 Qc5: 10.e3 de3: 11.Qe3:+ Qe3:+ 12.Be3: ]
I suppose that objectively black is fine here - White has the bishop pair, but that shouldn't be enough for a win.
However, this doesn't look anything close to something a Tarrasch-Player (Sub GM level, heh) wants. There's no counterplay, it's just exchanging all pieces and heading to a draw -- I don't see how black would be able to play for a Win in that position.
Is that really what one should be going for? Or is 10. ..Nf6 actually good enough to keep some counterplay going (even if it's theoretically +=, I'm rather playing such positions)? Doesn't look like sufficient compensation to me :/