New direction in the Queen's Gambit Accepted

What was so interesting about this game?

We are taught that being materialistic in the opening, and especially with flank pawns, can be a dangerous strategy that can backfire quickly...and here we have Aravindh, a 2700 Elo player, trying to hold onto the extra pawn in the "positional" variation of the QGA. Has the world gone nuts? (yes it has, but maybe we'll talk about that in the next blog post!)

Here's the game:

Earlier in the day, I was struggling with building some repertoire files...

There are two courses that I am aware of that deal with the Queen's Gambit Accepted from the black side. One is by IM Sopiko Guramishvili, the other one by GM Benjamin Gledura. I checked the lines from both and was left generally unsatisfied with the lines they recommend, particularly in the slower positional system with 3. Nf3 and 4. e3. Sure, allowing white to take back the pawn on c4 is theoretically sound, but most times you reach a symmetric pawn structure that's hard to play for a win.

It was like a sign from the chess gods, as if they said "you know you want to play something that looks super dubious but might actually be ok." They had me at "super dubious", and I spent the next hours collecting info from various databases to determine whether the line was playable. ️

Why should I trust your analysis?

That is the healthy dose of skepticism that could have kept the world safe from climate change deniers or flat Earthers, but ok, it might be a bit too late for that...It's basically my job to arm my students with strong repertoire weapons that will stand the test of time. Do I recommend a cheeky line here and there to get people out of prep early and "just play chess"? Sure, guilty as charged. I've also helped higher-rated players in round robin tournaments, so I know the responsibility of careful analysis.

So now, that we are back to our lovely Queen's Gambit Accepted, let's see the current state of theory. I recommend opening the study in a separate tab, which you can do by clicking here. Alternatively, you can take a look by scrolling through the embed below

So, that's it folks, a new direction in the QGA! Test out the lines, critique my analysis, everything is allowed in love, war, and chess. Good luck if you choose to actually play them in your games!

If you missed my study on the Anti-Jobava London, you can find it here. It's one of the hottest Studies on Lichess at the moment, so I want to take a moment to say that I appreciate all the love.

If you missed my latest blog entry about FIDE rating changes. Thanks for all the comments in the forum, you guys are smart!

I wear many hats in the chess world. Currently, I identify as a freelance chess journalist & FIDE National Instructor. Read my chronicles at vladchess.substack.com/ (it's free, like Lichess)