Schaakhamster wrote on 12/30/09 at 11:58:13:
So I used to play the Miles a few years ago. But it was a bit to passive to my liking. So what is viable at present? Alburt, Kengis, 4. ... Bg4?
I think Kengis' variation is viable. I like it more than Miles' variation, though both are Scandinavian-like, because Black retains the option of ...c7-c5 in some lines. Also Black's minority attack with ...a7-a5 and so forth can sometimes produce a win. However after 4...dxe5 5.Nxe5 g6 Black has to be prepared both for 6.Qf3 and 6.c4.
You can read the discussions here about Alburt's. Personally I think it's difficult for Black to play, though recent research by Marin, of all people, suggests that it may be sound in spite of theory's current judgment against it.
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 (Old Main Line) 6.c4 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Be3 +=, and White has some other good tries as well. The rap on 5...e6 is that it may hold, but Black must play long games for only two results against White's better attempts.
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 c6 (Flohr's) 6.c4! Nb6 7.Nbd2! (another strong try is 7.Ng5 Bf5 8.e6 fxe6 7.g4 Bg6 8.Bd3 but the stronger player will still win there, I opine) 7...Nbd7 8.exd6! exd6 and Black has an Exchange Variation with his b8 knight on the wrong square; it would much rather be on a6. However Black can probably defend this, and the better player may even yet win. Since Black otherwise has pretty good play after 5...c6, I remain quite interested in it.
4...Nc6 is dicey after Rubinstein's 5.c4 Nb6 6.e6, and White can also opt for 5.exd6 with a slightly improved version of the Exchange Variation.
4...Nb6 is much more serious than it appears to be. Black aims to fianchetto without letting White's bishop to c4. There's a two-part series about it by Ftacnik (am I right that it's Ftacnik?) in recent NIC Yearbooks. Black clearly takes on a lot of risk, however.
All in all, alternatives to 4...dxe5 aren't terribly pleasant to contemplate. My current favorite among them is Flohr's.