White plays the Queen's Gambit

Black declines with the Slav Defence

This is one of the more combative methods of declining the Queen's Gambit.

2...e5 is the Albin Counter Gambit, which can be fun if White doesn't know it.

Pinning the knight. The queen remains free too move, as the knight is protected by a pawn. Ph6 is of course a common response, followed by Bh4 or sometimes BxNf6.

I like this move for black!

Clearly the better way to take back.

I concur. While the queen comes out early, doubled pawns are best avoided. Plus Qf6 is at least three moves from Nf3. Only two from Nc3, but those two are well defended. With white's black bishop gone, white cannot develop by pushing black's queen, often a drawback with early queen deployment against a strong opponent.

Looks logical: Eyeing the slightly weakened light squares on Black's K-side.

Black has timed this exchange in order to induce White into losing time, and to place her bishop on a less convenient square.

Bd3 controls more board than Bc4, I think is Archduke's point by "less convenient square.". Black cedes some control over the center with this exchange. Particularly troublesome is that e4 is undefended, so white can push the black queen (Ne4) and dominate.

Both sides are following a well-trodden path - still in the opening databases.

It still seems to me worth discussing the reasons behind the choices made. Why is this line so popular? Black's King side is not a thing of beauty, but Black plans to castle on that wing, after developing the DSB via g7. The position will be solid enough, as White's resources are not well placed to exploit the slightly mangled Black K-side. In fact, White's position looks more geared towards Q-side operations. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with White's position as it stands. The trick seems to be to find an effective plan.

The most popular plan according to the GK World Database. But its success rate (24W 44D 31L) might not be so very encouraging...

This move, though. has had a very good success rate. From here on in, you have to be very wary of what the database has to offer. ...