Having checked my (very brief!) notes, the thing that maybe seems to give white a bit more traction is 6.. c5 instead of 6 .. Bg7. 7 Bb5+ ^ Bd7 8 Rb1 or 7.. Nd7 8 Ba3 etc. Black can even drop a pawn surprisingly easily.

Which is, iirc, actually the direct opposite of what gets mentioned in the really old books. Watson's books on this stuff, Bagirov etc.

The delayed Rb1 idea does allow Nc6, but you can still I think force through d4. Something like: 6 .. Bg7 7 Be2 c5 8 o-o Nc6 9 Ba3 Qa5 10 Qb3 ^ Rad1 and d4. (9.. b6 seems to maybe allow d4 anyway.). Not fantastic for white of course but not terrible. Maybe 7 Ba3 is more logical.


Maybe black can get away with stamping on d4 with e5 at some point.

MartinC wrote on 05/22/13 at 11:15:50:

I actually just tried that in a correspondence game but it didn't really work, but I still think that white has some chances of an advantage in this 7.Ba3 line while in a normal Grünfeld 7.Ba3 Nd7 8.Nf3 c5 immediately equalizes



MartinC wrote on 05/22/13 at 11:15:50:

the problem here is that black can play Nc6 without being hit by d5

Well do like that sort of thing more than your opponents? If so then go ahead

After 6 bxc3 there is actually maybe an interesting question as to whether white can get any milage out of delaying playing d4 for a few moves.

One very logical option would be to try to get castled first, so you can play a Rb1 style exchange variation without first losing the a2 pawn.

Some of the older books suggest some ideas with Ba3 and things to stop c5. I don't think I've seen it mentioned/discussed in recent times. There must be some scope there.