A few minutes ago I lost a game against some IM who played 10. Re1 a5 11. Qe2 Be6 12. Nd2 a4 against me. I suppose this is another line that Black can play to avoid the aforementioned line.

Gilchrist, Thank you for sharing your games. Of course, one should not take blitz games too seriously, but my brief thoughts are these  -

In the top game, you were significantly worse the entire game (until Black quickly collapsed at the end), and Black missed several easy wins. While I am not a big fan of 11. Qc2, I think that your problems started with 12. Nd2, which I do not understand, and either 12. Rd1 or 12. Ne4 are better.  12 Rd1 constrains Black, since White is "nearly" threatening e4 and/or d5. 12. Ne4 starts the knight on its path to c5.

The second game is different, and one can draw some interesting conclusions. After reaching the key position at move 19, I do not think that 20. Nf3 is a step in the best direction (since the knight belongs on c5). Still, it can't be bad, and it certainly does not hurt anything, and, strangely enough, that is the point. I think that with the 2 bishops and the slight pressure on Black's queenside pawns, White was slightly better the entire game. White has the luxury of quietly (and planlessly!) maneuvering, poking here and there (Rowson calls it the art of "being" rather than "doing"), and waiting for an opportunity to "do something". It is hard to play that way in blitz, but you did a pretty good job, and eventually Black simply lost a pawn in an attempt at activity (i.e. inappropriately trying to "do something".). Of course, you have to be watchful for the opportunities to do something,and you missed some chances that likely would have shortened the game. On either move 29 or 31, Rc4 seems to win, threatening both something like Nxc6 winning an important pawn and Qc2, winning a pawn.  I think that this is a good example of the surprising hidden fragility in Black's position.

Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 12/21/11 at 20:08:40:

You don't even need to attach the pgn, just copy/paste the game from Chessbase and it will end up in standard text pgn format in your post. Anyone else can then just copy it back into Chessbase and the game will be normal. If you don't have Chessbase, use the /pgn command on ICC or something to generate the pgn.

Please modify and tidy this last post, you can't take up a whole page with one post containing just one game!

I am encountering this line many times as White in online chess on ICC, and I continue to get equal or worse positions after 10. Re1 a5 11. Qe2 Be6. I tried 11. Qc2, but I still ended up with worse positions. 

One of my games from today (scorecard from ICC):

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8.
e3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Re1 a5 11. Qc2 Be6 12. Nd2 Bf5 13. Nde4 e5 14. dxe5
Nxe5 15. Rd1 Qc8 16. Qe2 Bg4 17. f3 Bh3 18. Bd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Nec4 20. Rab1
f5 21. Nc5 Bf8 22. Nd3 Qe6 23. Re1 Rad8 24. Bc1 Qd7 25. Nf4 Bc5 26. e4 c6
27. b3 Ne5 28. Bb2 Bd4 29. Rbd1 Qf7 30. Qc2 g5 31. Nd3 Ng6 32. exf5 Qxf5 33.
Ne4 g4 34. fxg4 Qxg4 35. Ndf2 Bxf2 36. Nf6+ Kf7 37. Nxg4 {Black resigns} 1-0

Gilchrist, 

My thoughts on this line are complicated. I desperately would like to believe that somehow this is good for White. Why? Because I believe that the fianchetto variation of the King's Indian is practically a forced win for White! I say this half-jokingly of course, but Black's play is so difficult in these lines, and the counterplay so atypical for the King's Indian (where most players want to play ...e5, ...f5, ...f4,...g5 without thinking - which rarely works against the fianchetto), that players below master strength, and sometimes above, struggle against the pressure, and White can often get an effortless win. (The new book Wojo's Weapon Vol. 2 emphasizes this point, and it is consistent with my experience.)

My reluctance to play g3 against ...g6 is the result of my questions about the Grunfeld.

I am not sure that blitz is the best test.  My sense is that blitz places a higher priority on active play, and in this variation that may tip the scale to black. White's play is more subtle, and probably requires more thought. That said, I am beginning to understand this opening better, and feel more comfortable - and even doing better with it in blitz.  (However, I have been examining only one variation - fortunately the most common, and the one most often recommended in books for Black.  White is struggling in several fianchetto variations to prove something.  For example, I don't know how to address the line in Vass's question in this thread.)

Perhaps it worth noting that it is increasingly difficult for White to prove an edge in any variation of the Grunfeld! The Grunfeld is becoming a tough nut to crack.

Still, at the moment, in an important game, I will play g3 when Black commits to the king's indian (such as in lines with an early ...d6), but will probably play more classically after the usual order 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6. Meanwhile, I will continue looking for an edge in the fianchetto lines of the Grunfeld.