Quote:



I was just browing around this part of the board and came upon this claim.  But this French is quite bad for Black, since 5. e5 transposes into 1. e4 e6  2. d4 d5  3. e5 c5  4. c3 cxd4?  5. cxd4.

Quote:


Actually he gives 10...Knight to b4 rather than Bishop to b4, and I don't see any mention of 10...Bb4 on his website.

Pains me to have to agree with Mnb on this one, but it seems I must.

Lots of Palkovi's Smith Morra analyses don't stand up to close scrutiny, but to be fair most of the literature on the Smith Morra is dodgy at best. Perhaps this has more to do with the subject matter, than the authors in question.

Eulogy, my advice to you is as follows, pay close attention:

The Smith Morra is a fun practical opening, however it is not fully sound so expect to continue to find insoluble problems. Flawed openings, especially gambits, can't be fixed fully regardless of how many sources you have or how many new ones come on the market.

If you accept that there are some lines against the Morra where you simply will not generate enough comp then you will save yourself a lot of grief and money. Thats a fact.

I have a friend and he's an FM rated about 2260 or so, and all he plays is the Smith Morra, has been for years. He has that book by Janos Flesch, which judging by his games he never bothered to read, he simply goes his own way relying on his tactical ingenuity to guide him and not bothering a hoot whether the books thinks he is better or worse. I think this is the Spirit that many dodgy Gambits should be played in.

Regarding The Siberian trap, its cool if you can pull it off, and I purposely did not give any concrete lines in my answer since you failed to give any concrete lines in your question. I don't think the Siberian line constitutes a refutation, but if it does, that's what ya get for giving away valuable Centre pawns in the Opening.

Centre pawns are valuable assets and deserve or respect, giving them away just puts added pressure on ourselves to come up with 'the only moves' time and again to justify our wrecklessness.

Conclusion: Smith Morra is a good surprise weapon against an unprepared opponent, but these are becoming harder and harder to find in this Database age.

Solution: Put your analytical efforts into Mainline Sicilian positions, or find an Anti Sicilian that doesn't drop a pawn.

TN  

Postscript: In my next post I may show some analysis on the Siberian Line if I can dig up the article on it in the now defunct magazine 'Inside Chess'. If memory serves the article indicated there was some hope for White.      

OK, maybe TopNotch was a little rude, but it is a little frustrating when someone a sweeping claim about a variation without indication of why or even what specific line is the basis behind the claim.  How do we know that you are not just a beginner who thinks the Siberian trap looks cool?  OK, 9...d5 is the move.  What makes this line work?

TopNotch I have three books on it mega database 2005 and powerbook 2005 what am i missing? and 9...f6 in the main line of the siberian trap is stupid compared to 9...d5!!! (offered by GM chris ward) black has the winning score in almost all of the games. Ps TopNotch you never gave anyline that works against the siberian lol 

ROTFL!!

You have got to be kidding.

Sure the Morra isn't great but that Siberian trap line can easily rebound on Black if he isn't careful.

What kind or research did you do? I mean there are so many Books and analyses on the Smith Morra out there, don't you have access to any?

Topertz

To add to White's frustration, Black can also transpose into a (not so great) French via: 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd4 3.c3 e6 4.cd4 d5.  The main problem for Black is that the c3 square has been cleared so early that White can play and Advanced Variation with an early Nc3 that is usually considered a minor achievement.  The exchange variation, 5.ed5 ed5 holds no major worries for Black in my opinion. 

So in addition to all these sound variations, Black even has the option of playing a line that generally doesn't suit the temperement of S-M players by playing a French-style game.