Maroczy Bind Question

I play the Accelerated Dragon and so the Maroczy Bind is bound to pop up here and there. This is the key position:

Black to move

The best moves here are d6 or Nxd4. Their statistics are virtually the same. But d6 is played more than twice as often as Nxd4. Does this mean it's a better move? My book, Chess Openings for Black, Explained recommends d6 as well. I'm not quite sure what the advantage is for playing d6, after all, it gives White more options. Nc2 is especially troublesome. Is there some advantage to being forced to memorize more White lines?

What do you guys think?

BTW: I hate not being able to incorporate more positions in one post. 🙁

Would it be possible for someone with Chessbase to find out what players >= 2400 are playing most often from 2004-2006? Here is the complete move order: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 ?

Originally posted by exigentsky
I play the Accelerated Dragon and so the Maroczy Bind is bound to pop up here and there. This is the key position:

[fen]r1bqkb1r/pp1ppp1p/2n2np1/8/2PNP3/2N5/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 2 6[/fen] Black to move

The best moves here are d6 or Nxd4. Their statistics are virtually the same. But d6 is played more than twice as often as Nxd4. Does this mean i ...[text shortened]... do you guys think?

BTW: I hate not being able to incorporate more positions in one post. 🙁

d6 seems to be fine. After Nc2 you are likely to see Bg7 Be2 Nd7 and black is fine.
d6 is used to help prevent a e5 push which can be disasterous to black in such a position.

Of course, you're right Xanthos. But after the immediate Nxd4, e5 is impossible. And after Qxd4, d6 has to be played anyway. So I am left to wonder, what is the advantage to leaving white more options by playing d6 before Nxd4? The only thing it seems to prevent is a later c5. (and that's not so dangerous by statistics)

Actually, I just tried this, e5 can still work even after Nxd4. But it isn't played in the Shredder database.