Actually yes, Smyslov Fan, your judgment was astute. That's way more important than knowing theory.

Phooey. My 10...Nf6 isn't a novelty.

I didn't even bother to look in opening manuals, having expected Sloughter to have done that himself.

I did notice one of the games was Chigorin-Pillsbury, 1899, which Pillsbury won.

Oh well. On the plus side, my evaluation matches Lasker's.

This is Lasker's Defense, which has been known for at least, oh, ninety years to be mildly favorable for Black. White has to play forever with slightly worse pawns and nothing to make up for it. There is a literature on it, mostly old because White's partisans very soon abandoned 8.dxe5. Am I mistaken, or is it treated in Lasker's Manual of Chess?

Chess theory perhaps should be consulted before proposing to draw conclusions before move twelve, particular in these old sytems that have a vast theory no longer published in standard manuals.

P.S. Doesn't 11...Nf6 12.Ba4+ c6 13.Nd2 just lose to 13...Bxc3?

The moves are: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.O-O Bb6 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Qxd8ch Nxd8 10.Nxe5 Be6 (10....Nf6!? has never been played, but looks interesting for Black) 11.Bb3

White scores ~75% with 11.Bb5+.

I don't see how 11.Bb3 changes the evaluation of this line. It looks about equal, with a slightly more comfortable game for white despite the structural weaknesses.




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