Hi,
what about 12. ...Nc4 13.Bc4 Rc4 14. g4 Qc7! 15. g5 Nh5 16. Nd5 Qd8 17.Ne2 Be6 (17. ... e6!?)?
If 18. Ba7 really were that strong, Swidler and recently Korneev certainly would have played it; but both preferred 18.Ng3
The main reason that  Black has such bad score after 18.Ba7 is that in the games played so far White always was the much stronger player.
I believe in Black's compensation. If you annlyze the position, Fritz always like White, but if you go deeper
there are so many tactical possibilities( sacs on c3 or a3)
Bernhard

Hi all!

I recomend against 12.Kb1 Re8!? 

And then:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8!? 13. h4

(13. g4 b5 14. g5  b4 15. Nce2 Nh5 16. Ng3 Nxg3 17. hxg3 a5 18. Qh2 (18. Rh4 a4 19. Bd5 e6 20. Bb7 Rb8 21. Ba6 Qa5 {with large iniciative Colin - Grafl, Aymavilles 2000}) 18...e6 19. Qxh7+ Kf8 {black is ok, Ankerst - Cebalo, Bled 1999})

(13. Bh6 Bh8 14.h4 Nc4 15. Bxc4 (15. Qd3!?) 15... Rxc4 16. Nde2 b5 {with counterplay, Perez,Rod - Gonzalez, Cuba 2002})

13... h5 14. Bh6

(14. Bg5 Rc5 15. Rhe1

(15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 (16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 (17. h5 g5) 17... Rxd5 18. Bxd5 Qb6 19. Bb3 a5 20. f4 Nc6 21. c3 Qc5 {Black is fine, Kaplan - Komljenovic, Oviedo 1993}) 16... Nxh5 17. Rxh5 (17. Nd5 Rxd5 18. exd5 Nxf3 19. Nxf3 gxf3 20. Rdg1 Bf5 21. Qe3 Qb6 22. Qxf3 Qd4 {Black is winning Martin,B - Mestel, Lloyds Bank 1994}) 17... gxh5 18. Qh2 Ng6 19. Qxh5 Rxg5 20. Qxg5 e6 21. Qxg4 Qf6 22. Qg3 Qe5 {Black a small positional advantatge, Glimbrant - Pavlovic, Barbera 1994})

(15.Bh6 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nd5 {this is critical variation but i think black can hold his position, an example could be Ponomariov - Tiviakov.})

15... b5

(15... Qa5 16. a3 (16. f4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Bxf6 (18. Nb3 Qa6 {black is fine, Bologan - Golubev, Romania 2000}) 18... Bxf6 19. Nd5 Qxd2 20. Nxf6+ exf6 21. Rxd2 f5!= {Beliavsky - Georgiev,Ki , Wijk aan Zee 1985}) 16... Qa6 17. f4 Nc4 18. Bxc4 Rxc4 19. e5 Nh7 20. e6 Bxe6 21. Nxe6 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Qxa3 = {Smirin - Hodgson, Ischia 1996})

16. f4 Nc4 17. Bxc4 bxc4 18. Bxf6 (18. e5 Qb6 19. exf6 Rb8 20. Qc1 exf6 21. Re7 Qd8 {black is better, Glimbrant - Komljenovic, Andorra 1991}) 18... Bxf6 19. e5 Bg7 20. e6 fxe6 21. Nxe6 Bxe6 22. Rxe6 Kf7 23. Rde1 Qb6 with counterplay)

14... Qa5 15. g4

(15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Rhe1 Rc5 17. f4 {Zontakh - Georgiev,Ki , Budva 2002} 17... Nc6 {This is my recomendation} 18. f5 (18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. f5 Re5 (19... Rxc3 20. bxc3 Bxe4 21. fxg6 fxg6 with compensation) 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Qd3 b5 with counterplay) (18. Nf3 Bg4 19. f5 Ne5 20. Nxe5 Rxe5 black is fine) 18... Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Re5 20. fxg6 (20. Qc4 Rf8) (20. Nd5? Bxf5 21. Nxf6 exf6 {Black is better}) 20... fxg6 21. Nd5 Bg4 22. Rd2 Rf8 {black holds his position})

15... Nc4 16. Bxc4 Rxc4 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. gxh5 Nxh5 (18... Qxh5!? Maybe better?) 19. Rhg1 Rh8 20. Rg5 Qa6 it’s unclear.

Hi Friends!

Let's return to 12.Kb1 a5!?

13.a4 Nc4 14.Bc4 Rc4 15.b3 Rb4!??
[i don't like 15...Rc8 16.Ndb5! it's very easy to play with white pieces because black doesn't have any dinamic play.]
16.g4 Bc6 [maybe triying to play d5]
17. Ndb5  [i think is better 17.Na2]
17...Nd7 18.Na2 Bb5 19.Nb4 ab4 20.ab5 Qa5 21.Bd4 Ne5 22.Rhf1 Ra8 23.c4 Nc4! 24.bc4 Bd4 25.Qd4 Qa2+ 26.Kc1 Rc8 Black is winning! in Gofshtein - Sorkin, Dos Hermanas 2003.

Unfortunately you may very well turn out to be right about the inclusion of the moves ...Re8 and Kb1 being in White's favor, but Kb1 isn't always a useful move and ...Re8 does more than allow for ...Bh8.  Another virtue of the Rook move is that it guards e7 (stopping most Nd5 tricks.  Anyway, after my post I found the same line you gave versus ...Rc4 and I agree that White is much better (probably winning).  So that does leave 13...Qa5.  Ok, I have a hard time believing that this is good either, but also have had a hard time refuting it.  I checked Chessbase's online database and found Black doing rather well with this.  The one game he lost was easily improved upon.  I think that it (13...Qa5) deserves more investigaion.  (Not that I've given up on 12...a5!? either!  I merely stated that the 16.Ndb5 looked solid for White.  Right now this looks like the critical move.  I hope your investigations have found a good line for Black.)

That certainly looks very solid for White.  Does anyone know what's recommended for White after:
(1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6! 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 O-O 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1)

12....Re8?

I know this has been played and probably suggested by someone, but has the best method for White been established?  If 13.h4 I think Black should probably try 13...Nc4 or maybe 13...Qa5 to 13...h5?! because I think after 14.Bh6! the inclusion of ...Re8 and Kb1 favors White.

Glad to be able to convert another!!! However, I think the line discussed above in Cornette-Petrosian is in need of further analysis (Chris Ward included that game in an update) as clearly White did not put up a great deal of resistance. I would urge you to take a closer look at the positions and variations after 16...Qc7 as someone will no doubt find an improvement/novelty soon.

Yes indeed I appear to have set up my analysis board wrong or something because I totally missed that one (I  guess we're even  ) In that case, 3 following variations are worth a look.

A) 16...Bxb3 (as Ward likes to say, !? or ?!) 17. cxb3 Rb4 doesn't look completely illogical.

Perhaps more reasonable are

B)16...Rxc3!? 17. Qxc3 (17. bxc3 is probably suicidal) Bd7 as played in R. Sluka-M. Hajek 1997. From what I checked on Chessbase, this is the first, last, and only game where White did not play 15. b3. Though Black lost this game (supposedly), the final position is completely winning for black so I assume Black simply lost on time at move 35.
C) Similarly, 15...Rxc3!? 16. Qxc3 Bxa4 may also be good, but it is probably preferable to play line B because it makes Blacks control of the a1-h8 diagonal more significant and a timely Nxe4 or Nxg4 is always a possibility.

15. g4? just drops the a-pawn to 15...Bxa4 as 16. b3 is met by 16...Rb4 -/+

16. g5? (hoping for 16...Nh5 17. Nd5! +/= or +/-) is repulsed by 16...Qxc3! and Black gets a beautiful endgame where he is up a pawn, has the bishop pair (all Black needs to do is remove the Nd4 and the a1-h8 diagonal is his), control of the c-file, and an eventual ...b5 will force black to defend an assault on his queenside pawns. In summation, -/+ (maybe even -+).

With the 10...Qa5 lines under scrutiny, I've switched to Rc8 and this line appears to be critical and with 12. h4 (what was for a long time and i think is still considered "main line") not seeming to be problematic for Black, I've found several white players switching to this line. Then follows 12....a5 13. a4!? (13. h4 is no problem for Black) Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. b3 Rc8 16. g4 Qc7 17. Ndb5. From here, I had a game that went 17...Bxb5 18. Nxb5 Qd8 19. h4 h5 20. gxh5 and I lost  (Papp-Kinez, 2000 continued 20. Bh6 and Black got into a winning endgame but blundered). After my game, I found Cornette-Petrosian 2002 Wch U18:

[Event "Wch U18"]
[Site "Heraklio"]
[Date "2002.11.15"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Cornette,Matthieu"]
[Black "Petrosian,Tigran L"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "B78"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Ne5 11.Bb3 Rc8 12.Kb1 a5 13.a4 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.b3 Rc8 16.g4 Qc7 17.Ndb5 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Bxb5 19.axb5 d5 20.Nf2 a4 21.b6 Qc6 22.Rc1 axb3 23.c3 Ra8 24.Nd3 Qc4 25.Nb4 Qxb4 0-1

I have yet to try out 17...Nxe4 but does anyone have any other games or lines they find of interest? Also, it would seem that while Black is presently having trouble in the Qa5 lines (though I am not writing it off at all as there are still, to be sure, some unexplored option), he can be pleased with his winning chances in the Rc8 lines.