Answers.Body: <p>It is hard to tell exactly without an exact line, but normally it has the idea of following with ...dxc4 (putting the enemy bishop on the c4 square), ...b5 (now kicking it away) and ...Bb7.</p>
  
  <p>This solves the annoying problem of placing the c8 bishop on a decent square</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T19:47:05.970Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-05-27T19:47:05.970Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Body: <p>As title above, what is the point or the main idea of a very early ...a6 Pawn move in Queen’s Gambit Declined? I see that the move is fairly popular at GM and even top level. </p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T18:28:29.530Z
Comments.Text: It might help to give an example game, so we can see exactly when it is played and against which White moves.
Comments.UserDisplayName: D M
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T18:42:00.667Z
Comments.Text: Ding - Carlsen played yesterday: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6, for example.
Comments.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T19:13:21.210Z
Comments.Text: Leko - Caruana, 2019: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6.
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Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T19:17:26.353Z
Comments.Text: Shankland - Carlsen, 2019: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6.
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T19:26:22.623Z
Comments.Text: These examples should be in the question itself IMO.  Also, having the whole game would be useful.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Qudit
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T20:26:45.373Z
Comments.Text: Whole games are easily available on the Internet. I don’t think that middlegames or endgames arising from 3...a6 or 4...a6 are particularly important here.
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T20:53:05.520Z
Comments.Text: Yes, they are available, but we generally request self-contained questions. Also, the middlegames and endgames are extremely important IMO.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Brandon_J
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T21:14:01.933Z
Comments.Text: @ANOther Of course they are available.  However, not including then in the question forces anyone who wants to refer to them to look them up themselves and makes things less convenient.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Qudit
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T21:33:38.857Z
Comments.Text: Sure but I don’t believe the point of 3...a6 or 4...a6 is to be found in whole games. Do you need a whole game to justify 1...e5 in reply to 1.e4? Isn’t it sufficient to say that it establishes a strong pawn on e5 while freeing Queen and Bishop? I don’t mean to be harsh, but either we try to answer my question, or we can discuss it ad infinitum.
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Comments.CreationDate: 2019-05-27T21:44:21.757Z
Comments.Text: Then we’d need whole games for each opening book in chess, which thing as you know is not the case. There are excellent opening books without whole games.
Comments.UserDisplayName: A. N. Other
Tags: <opening><queens-gambit-declined>
Title: What’s the point of early ...a6 move in Queen’s Gambit Declined?
ThreadText: # What’s the point of early ...a6 move in Queen’s Gambit Declined?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-27)
  
  As title above, what is the point or the main idea of a very early ...a6 Pawn move in Queen’s Gambit Declined? I see that the move is fairly popular at GM and even top level.
  
  **Tags:** opening, queens-gambit-declined
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: It might help to give an example game, so we can see exactly when it is played and against which White moves.  
  > **username_0**: Ding - Carlsen played yesterday: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6, for example.  
  > **username_0**: Leko - Caruana, 2019: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6.  
  > **username_0**: Shankland - Carlsen, 2019: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3. Nc3 a6.  
  > **username_2**: These examples should be in the question itself IMO.  Also, having the whole game would be useful.  
  > **username_0**: Whole games are easily available on the Internet. I don’t think that middlegames or endgames arising from 3...a6 or 4...a6 are particularly important here.  
  > **username_3**: Yes, they are available, but we generally request self-contained questions. Also, the middlegames and endgames are extremely important IMO.  
  > **username_2**: @ANOther Of course they are available.  However, not including then in the question forces anyone who wants to refer to them to look them up themselves and makes things less convenient.  
  > **username_0**: Sure but I don’t believe the point of 3...a6 or 4...a6 is to be found in whole games. Do you need a whole game to justify 1...e5 in reply to 1.e4? Isn’t it sufficient to say that it establishes a strong pawn on e5 while freeing Queen and Bishop? I don’t mean to be harsh, but either we try to answer my question, or we can discuss it ad infinitum.  
  > **username_0**: Then we’d need whole games for each opening book in chess, which thing as you know is not the case. There are excellent opening books without whole games.  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2019-05-27. Score: 4
  
  It is hard to tell exactly without an exact line, but normally it has the idea of following with ...dxc4 (putting the enemy bishop on the c4 square), ...b5 (now kicking it away) and ...Bb7.
  
  This solves the annoying problem of placing the c8 bishop on a decent square
  
  
  ---
  
  