Markovich wrote on 05/02/13 at 18:21:40:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 cxd5 9.O-O O-O and now I cannot understand what all the fuss is about Kramnik's 10.h3. There was an article about this, treating it with great respect, in a recent NIC yearbook.
But if this emperor has any clothes on, I don't see them. As Tarrasch pointed out, Black's advantage in the Scotch 4 Knights is that he has the central pawn, and White has just played h3, of all things.
There must be many good replies, but I'm amazed that my data base doesn't contain a single game with 10...c5!?, which is the very first move that would occur to me. 11.Qf3 Be6 and so forth.
Beyond that, Rublevsky - Najer, Latvia 2013 went 10.h3 c6 11.Qf3 Re8 12.Bf4 Be6 13.Ne2 Bd6 14.Rfe1 Qb8 15.b3 Bd7 16.Bxd6 Qxd6 17.c4 d4 18.Qf4 Qxf4 19.Nxf4 c5 20.Bf1 Bc6 21.Nd3 Nd7 22.g4 f5 23.gxf5 Kf7 24.b4 cxb4 25.Nxb4 Ba4 26.Bg2 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Re8 28.Rxe8 Kxe8 29.Bc6 Bxc6 30.Nxc6 d3 31.Kf1 a6 32.Ke1 Nc5 33.f3 Kd7 34.Ne5+ Kd6 35.f4 h5 36.Kd2 Ne4+ 37.Kxd3 Nf2+ 38.Ke3 Nxh3 39.Nf3 Ke7 40.Ng5 1-0. But instead of 17...d4, how about 17...g5 18.Ne2 d4? To me that looks fully adequate for Black.
The fuss about Kramniks h3 is that he found something in an opening known for centuries already and was already for decennia considered as a dead draw. If we realise that last year not only Najer and Smirnov (both +2600 players) lost a serious game but even the world champion Anand (against Wang Hao) then we can safely say that Kramnik brought new live to a dead and very old variation (something which seldom happens).
Probably 10...,c5 is playable too but after 11.Qf3 Be6 12.Rd1 Bxc3 (12...Qa5 13.Ne2) 13.bxc3 Qa5 14.c4 white can get via the pawnsacrifice a lot of play which is also indicated by the evaluation of the engines.
Last year this variation already attracted my attention and I wrote a blogarticle about it with some analysis, see
http://schaken-brabo.blogspot.be/2012/09/schots-vierpaardenspel.html