Hello.
fjd wrote on 03/19/17 at 02:27:35:
I was under the impression 3...Bc5 4 c3 Nf6 5 d4 in the Spanish was meant to just be good for White...
5...Bb6 6 Nxe5! Nxe5 7 dxe5 Nxe4 8 Qg4! etc. leads to a big advantage for White;
Meanwhile, 5...exd4 6 e5 Ne4 7 0-0 d5, White has a pleasant choice;
A) In my notes I have 8 exd6(!), when Black doesn't really have a good recapture, and therefore should play 8...0-0!, when 9 dxc7 Qxc7 10 cxd4 Nxd4! 11 Nxd4 Qb6 12 Qc2 Nxf2! 13 Rxf2 Bxd4 14 Bf1 +/=
B) Looking at it now, 8 cxd4 also seems good for White, e.g. 8...Bb6 9 Be3 0-0 and now 10 Bxc6!? bxc6 11 Qc2 Qe8 12 Nbd2 Bf5 13 Nh4 Nxd2 14 Qxd2 Be6 15 f4 with initiative.
Am I missing anything? What, generally, does Collins recommend for Black? If he has an effective solution for Black, I may well buy the DVD and add 3...Bc5 to my repertoire!
Check the Spanish repertoire thread - roughly speaking replies #150 to 257. Lots of stuff about
3...Bc5, including your line A (slightly extended and with different evaluation).
My highly subjective interpretation of what can be read in that thread is that at times there was serious doubt that advantage would be found against
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 Nd5. Discussion of
6...Ne4 also continued for quite long even if most bits of analysis produced seemed to indicate dodgyness. Anyway
7.0-0 dxc3 looked toughest to me. I don't know if you've checked this.
Some smart person also realised that black could play
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 in order to reach
3...Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0, while bypassing
3...Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4. The solution was to analyse
3...Nf6 4.0-0 Bc5 5.Nxe5, though if somehow that turned out not to be advantageous for white then you might practically speaking benefit from having something other than
3...Bc5 4.c3 0-0 5.d4 in your repertoire.
Towards the end of 3...Bc5 discussion there seems however to have been mild optimism about (as far as I could tell) the serious lines; albeit without a lot of fatty and conclusive analysis in every line.
Have a nice day.