fling wrote on 03/21/12 at 09:10:21:

..And maybe they go for this line just because almost nothing is mentioned about it.. 

Thanks for the replies!

I didn't like cxd4 because it gave White time to improve the position of the knight on b3. White indeed continued 8.a4. After this I also didn't want to play 8 ...Be7, because the bishop might go directly to c5 e.g. But the Queen seemed to be in the way at b6. Thus, I played 8 ...Qc7!? with the idea b6 and maybe trading light-squared bishops or aiming for ...b5 later on. Maybe Black should really play for ...f6, prepared by 8 ...Be7 and 9 ...0-0, aiming to show that the knight on b3 is not that fabulous?

dom wrote on 03/19/12 at 22:18:15:

This plan seems best for black, indeed. But there's a tiny detail. White has a good plan against it, too - a move g2-g3. And first, it was Sergei Smagin that showed how the first player has to play in this position:

It seems Ioan Chirila was aware of this plan when played this one as white in our modern times. He played 11.Nb3 first (which is an improvement - 11...Qb6 can be met by 12.Be3) and then 12.g3 followed by 13.Kg2.. The result was simply 1-0. 

EDIT: I still think black is ok in this 12.g3 setup. Several improvements can be made for black, indeed. We need more high quality games though. 

I decided to try the French this week, to have a change from the Sicilian Kan. However, I didn't have much time to look at what to play against the Tarrasch 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2. My initial plan was to play 3...c5, but decided I wanted to try 3 ...Nf6. After 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 I realized I hadn't looked at this line at all. Just assumed my opponent likely would play some other line, hoping to get a Salto Mortale.

Play continued 5 ...c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3. This is not mentioned more than briefly (if at all, not at Chesspub from what I can see), and shouldn't really be that good for White, because the knight on d2 is really not optimally placed. On the other hand, it has been played many times, by e.g. Capablanca. Basically the only move discussed in books has been Ndf3. Well, I was out of the book and tried 7 ...Qb6 8.Nb3 a5!? This was met by 9.a4, and after some mistakes by both sides, I had a comfortable position, but didn't play ...b5, something I really should have made work, especially with that poor knight on b3.

Anyway, what would be the best plan after 7.Ngf3? To go for the ...f6-break, or aim for a more closed position with ...f5, or ignore the kingside and play on the queenside?