After the following moves

I hope I get this right - I'm going by memory.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e6 7. Be3 b5 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 Nbd7
10. O-O-O Bb7 11. h4 b4 12. Na4

The two most commonly played moves for Black are 12. ... d5 and 12. ... Qa5

I recently played d5 in a tournament and lost. A search on different DB suggests Qa5
is more popular.

At the time I thought it seems kind of strange for Black to voluntarily open up the center with his King still there, but I didn't think it was a problem since Black is the one who controls the center. On the other hand, Kasparov played Qa5 in a tournament and won but that's Kasparov It seems the DB suggest White wins slightly more when either move is played.

Is Qa5 a better move than d5? Looking for other opinions.


Thanks

I'm not familiar with that opening variation, but you played d5 and lost. Theory is made up by Grandmasters by trial and error. If Qa5 is the current theory, and is suggested by databases as the best move for black, then grandmasters have played both Qa5 and d5 several times, but got better results with Qa5.

And sometimes theory isn't that logical. Sometimes you just have to assume grandmasters did their stuff and (probably) rightfully concluded that Qa5 is better than d5. And if the statistics on both moves aren't far apart, then I guess both moves are playable, as long as you know your stuff better than your opponent

Therefore I won't give you my opinion about which move seems best to me and my feeling about the two moves, because I'm sure theory knows better than me

While there is no doubt that 12. ... Qa5 has been played far more frequently than 12. ... d5 in the past decade in published games, I have no idea which is actually better. I know which one I'd play, but in the grand scheme it doesn't matter. The more important question is what is your plan and which one fits in with it better. If you don't know the ideas behind an opening and the types of positions which they may yield then the difference between two statistically close moves doesn't much matter.

Bottom line: play whichever one you are most comfortable with. If your results are consistently less than what you want make changes.

That is really good advice and should be highlighted imo