Eljanov Pavel. Play Queen's Gambit Declined against 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3. Part 1 (with the author's comment)

Modern Chess, Opening Databases, 29 May 2020.In the introduction to the current database, GM Eljanov writes: The Queen's Gambit Declined is truly a lifetime opening. Like no other it passed the test of centuries of chess practice. This opening was employed by almost all old maestros including Morphy, Chigorin and Steinitz as well as by modern super grandmasters like Carlsen, Ananda, Caruana and many others. Different move orders were popular at different times. If in the old days it was considered safe to allow the Carlsbad Variation after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5, nowadays most modern maestros tend to avoid typical Carlsbad pawn chains with Black and opt for 3...d5 only in response to 3.Nf3. Strangely enough, yours truly almost never played Queen's Gambit Declined with Black. Nevertheless, I suppose that it perfectly suits my style and chess philosophy. In this database, I decided to analyse Queen's Gambit Declined from Black's point of view and chose the most straightforward way to challenge the main move 5.Bf4 (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4) with 6...c5!?. At some point, this move was a bit in the shadow of the solid 6...Nbd7 but recently it began to gain popularity again thanks to top GMs Nakamura, Caruana and Anand first of all.