First : I'm glad to see a quite detailed post.
Second : I didn't call the
comparison worthless, but
variants.
I also don't think the position (the critical transposition) is a hell good one for white. I used to play french (french only) since 7 years, now variying with sicilian. Some things i still know
After having a short look at "Blatny - Stangl" i can say that 11. bxc5 is very careless and 12.d4 insane like the game continuation certainly shows (In fact the game seems to be already decided after 12.d4). 11.b5 is better and closes the position a little more
I don't like Blatneys idea (if it is HIS one) to mure the poor bishop with 5.d3. Call me hidebound, but Bb5 has to arise before d3, in
every case. The bishop is almost worthless in this position and has to be exchanged with the strong Nc6 as long as this is possible, but of course only in reaction to black, forcing it. (Yesterday, just pushing some pieces on the board, i disliked blacks possibly open b-file after exchange ... hmm ... )
By the way, i don't know when this game took place, but Stangl is actually stronger then Blatny (about 100 points)
Unfortunately i don't have a database for researching on my own, but you know how it is. If you consider an opening to be good, play it 300 times in tourneys, beat grandmasters and maybe the mass accepts YOU as the author.
With the knowledge in this thread, how many time does one actually save if really playing 2.e5 ? And how much power it will cost black (psyche + calculation) ?