Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation

What Is The Classical Variation?

6.g3 and 7.Bg2 point the bishop down the long diagonal at d5, and that single idea runs the whole variation. After ...cxd4 Black holds an isolated pawn on d5 while White blockades the square in front of it with a knight on d4. White attacks d5 from a distance, so the pressure costs him nothing.

Black pays with a weak pawn and gets speed: open c and e files, an outpost on e4, and the ...d4 break. Rubinstein's 9.Bg5 attacks the knight on f6, d5's most important defender, and forces you to choose. Exchanges decide the game. Trade into an endgame and the isolated pawn falls; keep the pieces on and Black's activity outweighs it.

How Should You Respond To The Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation?

49% play 9.Bg5 on a small sample, so treat the split as a tendency. Black has castled and accepted the isolated queen pawn in exchange for active pieces and open lines, which is the Tarrasch bargain in its purest form.

Pin the knight, trade the defenders and put a piece on d4, because the pawn is only weak once it cannot advance. Bg5 does the first of those immediately. The endgame is where the isolani finally tells, so every simplification is a small win. What loses is allowing ...d4 at a moment when it opens lines for the pieces Black has been developing.

How Does Play Continue From Here?

Move	Share		Games
Bg5	49%		27
dxc5	25%		14
b3	9%		5
Bf4	9%		5