Many thanks for all this hard work, C_b_T! I regret I haven't had time lately to look at things closely, but one evening a week or two ago I was doing what you're not meant to do, namely just running an engine and watching passively, and it came up with something I thought quite interesting after 12 Bf6 ef 13 Nf3 in the line above, namely 13 ...a5!?. The idea I guess is to delay ...Be6 for the moment and to enable a possible ...Ra7. The sequel was fascinating!: 14 Re1 f5 15 h4 (15 Rg1?! Nd7) h5 16 Ng5 Ra7 17 Rh3 Ba6 18 Rg3 Bf1, and now came a wild attack! -- 19 d5!? Re8 20 Ne6! fe 21 Rg6 ...

Looking at this again very quickly I have no idea whether Black can defend or not. Maybe he can, but it sure looks dangerous, and I take your point about White having other options anyway. All in all, maybe Black should grit his teeth and accede to the tedious endgame line after all ...

Hello AlekseiNK and thanks for posting the game.

13.Bd3 is definitely an attempt but I doubt it can be critical. The d3 square itself is a bit dumb for the bishop since black is about to play f6-f5 and more importantly taking on c6, seemingly the only decent follow up, does not look sufficient. Apart from Campbell's 16...Rb8 also 16...h5  looks alright and is what I looked at in earlier analysis. (second edit: Also, for what its worth, maybe white can force the position after 16...h5 if he wants). Probably white should try not going 16.h4 and instead turtle up with 16.Qc3 but I don't really think it brings great benefit (black gets his pieces out anyhow). Then again it is a pawn and sometimes even turtles can bite if you give them the chance (luckily not known from experience).

I will look a bit deeper at this whole 11...Bxf6 continuation and probably repost my old analysis in extended form. Tentatively I think that if black plays really precise he can avoid the most dreadful defensive position and probably equalise in the long run. This is by no means clear without a fair bit of analysis though.

Have a nice day.

Edit: Also. 11...exf6, keeping things on the board, looks not really like a hot contender for equaliser; even if that is what I would have wanted.
Second Edit:
In the line: (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Qd2 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.0-0-0 c6 8.f4 b5)
I notice the same black player losing a game after 9.Bxf6. This move looks like a fairly dangerous way of playing for white as well (idea should be after 9...Bxf6 a quick h4-h5 if black does nothing).

Hello.

Michael Ayton wrote on 06/05/17 at 15:59:54:

10.dxe5 would be my choice for sure. I posted some analysis of this in the Kornev book thread (reply 14). I believe there is nothing obviously better than going into what looks like a mildly unpleasant two pieces vs rook endgame.

There is also Kornev's 9...b4 but then 10.exf6 is surely critical and 10...bxc3 11.Qxc3 Bxf6 (!? - Kornev) does not seem like an ideal solution. Possibly it could somehow be alright for black; I guess. White looks a bit more comfortable though. Possibly instead of this 11...exf6 is the move but this leads to not easily understood chess.

And there are some 8th move options for white as well (8.Kb1, 8.Qe3 and 8.Qe1 - presumably all novel ideas)

Have a nice day.

Hello.

Michael Ayton wrote on 06/04/17 at 23:08:30:

Yes he can . Apparently
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Qd2 h6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Nf3 e6 8.e5 dxe5 9.Nxe5 Nh5 10.Be3 Nd7 11.f4

11...Qh4+ 12.g3! Nxg3 13.hxg3 Qxh1 14.0-0-0 Qh5 15.Ne4! f5 16.Be2 is good for white (which I just missed) so 7...e6 is probably fairly dubious positionally. White gets a decent grip and black can't strike back early in part because white has this idea of giving the rook.

Michael Ayton wrote on 06/04/17 at 23:08:30:

Maybe even 9...Nd7 but then the deep 10.Be3 (10.d5 Nce5 looks to not obviously bring white closer to any advantage) might force black to go e7-e5 when he'd rather not really do that. Problem is white is placed to harmoniously so if black does nothing white can hit with a4 and because white is placed harmoniously normalising () the game with e7-e5 looks not greatly timed.


A few pitholes in these 6.Bf4 a6 7.Nf3 lines it seems.
Still think the main problem is 6.Bh4 though. Not really finding anything great there for black. We'll see if Marin goes for it I guess.

Have a nice day.

Hello.

Michael Ayton wrote on 06/01/17 at 23:56:23:

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Qd2 h6 6.Bf4 a6

7.Be2 Nc6 Looks about right indeed. One can argue white will probably not be so inclined to play Bf3 now making Be2 presumably not the most meaningfully placed piece on the board.

7.Nf3 b5 8.Bd3 Nc6 Should also be a bit interesting. Perhaps white can find some more or less advantageous way to continue, though with the knight on c6 black has many ideas of how to continue play (Bg4, Bb7, e6, e5, b4, Nd7, g5) and this is usually a good sign.
After 8...Bb7 9.e5 Nd5 10.Nxd5 Bxd5 11.Qe3 Nc6 I suspect white is well placed to keep his center intact for some time, but ok maybe black can live with this.

7.Nf3 e6 8.e5 is definitely an idea and can maybe be compared to the 6...e6 7.e5 classical Pirc. Still I don't think you should be displeased as black after 8...dxe5 9.Nxe5 Nh5 10.Be3 Nd7. I'm not really thinking white is better and if he is it will be hard for him to make immediate impact against a fundamentally quite sound black position. A definite plus with 7...e6 is also that 8.Bd3 Nc6 seems quite alright for black.

There is also 7.Nf3 Nc6 which could be tried.

Have a nice day.

I briefly had a look at this line, and thought 7 Be2-f3!? might be interesting, just trying to prevent Black from getting his ...b5/...Bb7/...Nbd7 set-up in.

Hi.

Not that much to say really. Looks very decent for black. Decent like black seems to have many good looking and relatively option filled continuations.

Somehow:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Qd2 h6 6.Bf4 a6 7.Nf3!?
Looks most dangerous.
In my simplified strategic view the idea is that white really needs to go for some e4-e5 or maybe h4-h5 push at some point. For this to work satisfactorily white basically wants his pieces on their best squares and f3 should be quite optimal for the knight. Black also has an annoying strategic "threat" of going b5; when to defend from b4+Nxe4 playing f3 is probably less dangerous compared to just proactively defending the pawn by anchoring it on e5 (supported by a knight on f3 ideally, because otherwise going e5 could even be problematic).

I would probably just go 7...e6 and ask white what is up (at least not e5-e6!). Then probably follow up with b5, some development and possibly even g5 at some point. Should not be bad for black really.

Have a nice day.
Edit: Grammar.

Quote:

Ah yes, sorry -- I don't think I ever did look at 10 a4 here. Just off the top of my head I'd reckon 10 ...ed 11 Nd4 Nc5 looks more natural than 10 ...Ng4, but a closer look is surely needed! And ditto at your interesting idea of trying to do without ...Qe7 ...