Hi.

MNb wrote on 02/21/18 at 10:52:48:

Checking in after some busy days. I can say that I did not find anything that looked like a clean equaliser against this 7.a4. While black gets somewhat ok looking positions they rarely seem fully equal. The white queen is a positional asset on h6 in many lines, possibly helping to set up an attack and also preventing castling. Also worth mentioning is that if the queen stays on d2 it attacks b4, which may draw the non-developing a5 from black.

In terms of thought out responses I came up with the idea of letting b4 hang for a move or two (or more, although who's keeping count anyway) by going with the natural looking move of castling followed by a quick Bg4. Also I think there is point to castling before playing a7-a5 and I came up with a line of play trying to demonstrate how this could be. If black is looking for quick equality this could be it; although there is some concreteness to be navigated. To the first line though:

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bf4 c6 5.Qd2 b5 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.a4 b4 8.Nce2 0-0
Possibly most accurate. Now 9.Qxb4 is actually not so good. Instead...
9.Nf3
9.Bh6 Bxh6 10.Qxh6 e5 is different compared to if the knight had already moved to f3. Very playable for white, at the same time it doesn't look so threatening to me.
9...Bg4!? 10.Bh6!? Nbd7
Natural development from black obviously; made possible by the ordering of his moves. But wait...
11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Qxb4
A pawn drops! Now does black get compensation? I am not exactly sure but at the same time after a few natural moves it isn't going to look so bad for black. I mainly checked 12...Bxf3 now, which depending on how you see it deviates a bit from being a natural move. Crucially though it seems to work out OK.
To note earlier is that 10.Qxb4 is actually a real possibility as well. Keeping the g7 bishop alive makes for different positions entirely though.

Some analysis:


Nice day.

Hi.

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 02/17/18 at 17:37:13:

4.Bf4 c6 5.Qd2 b5 6.e5 Does seem like a good move. Now either 6...dxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd2+ 8.Bxd2 Nfd7 9.f4 += or 6...Nh5 7.Be3 dxe5 8.dxe5 Qxd2 9.Bxd2 += are the two most plausible lines. White's advantage should not be to large in practical play (although in a corr game I would not like to play black here - let's put it like that). Still I very much doubt black has enough good ideas for anything resembling equality. With the queens off the board he could certainly hope to play a long game with slightly worse chances though. Useful spotting this 6.e5

gewgaw wrote on 02/17/18 at 14:43:53:

I usually go 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 and 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 so I can't say I am extremely well versed here. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 d6 5.f4 is supposed to be more dangerous than in the Pirc version although maybe black has some exact way of playing to get ok chances that I don't know about.

Have a nice day.

Edit: minor textual improvements

Sam Collins (2004) An Attacking Repertoire for White, page 152 gives 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5 c6 5. Qd2 b5 6. e5!? (his punctuation) 6... dxe5 7. dxe5 Qxd2+ 8. Bxd2 Ng4 9. f4 and a few more moves of Ulibin - Himdan, Abu Dhabi 2002, reaching a "pleasant endgame". Not very attacking, and maybe not all that much for white, but no doubt black wished his pawn were still on b7.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bf4 c6 5. Qd2 b5 6. e5!? Nh5 7. Be3 dxe5 8. dxe5 Qxd2+ 9. Kxd2!? is similarly interesting.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 02/17/18 at 06:18:34:

My interest regarding the Argentinean Attack and everything related never needs to be renewed - my laziness only applies to the work I (don't) do myself. But overall 5...b5 worries me more as my doubts regarding 6.Bd3 Bg7 7.Bh6 remain intact.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bf4 c6 5.Qd2 b5 6.Bd3 (6.f3!?) 6...Bg7 was suggested.

A. 7.Bh6 I think is best. Other 7th moves might lead to 150-ish positions where the Bf4 is misplaced...

B. 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.O-O O-O 9.a4 b4 10.Ne2 a5 11.c3 Nbd7!? 12.cxb4 axb4 13.Qxb4 (the computer doesn't want this P, but I need to be shown) 13...c5! 14.Qd2 cxd4 15.Nexd4 Nc5 black has good play but white can probably hold on with 16.Bb5.

C. 7.h3 Nbd7 (7...e5? 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Bxe5 Nxe4 10.Qf4 +-) 8.Nf3 O-O (8...e5? 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 Nxe4 12.Bxe4 +-) 9.O-O e5! 10.dxe5 (the engine suggests 10.Bg5, but this would obviously label Bf4 as inaccurate) 10...Nxe5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Bxe5 Nxe4 =

Aren't we talking about 1e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Bf4 c6 5 Qd2 Nbd7 6 Nf3 Bg7 7 Bh6 0-0 8 Bg7 Kg7 9 0-0-0 Qa5?
Or does 9 e5 make that much difference?

Still answering 7.Bh6 with Qa5 loses a piece, so it's totally unclear what line you're talking about that's supposed to come close to equal.
Compare page 1, the last two comments.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 02/15/18 at 11:24:51:


and the "if I could go back 30 years and pick another opening" adage