In that Yearbook article from last year, Jeroen Bosch (a Dutch IM) thought that the compensation after 6. Bd3 is "barely sufficient" and that White should avoid it, that 6. Be2 is preferable and should be dynamically equal, that 6. Qxd4 should be equal and 5. Nxd4 should indeed be slightly better for White.

The Hungarian featured in the last round of the British Championships in the game between Howell and Hebden. This started 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6 5. dxe5 dxe5 and now instead of the Queen exchange, Howell played the rare 6. Nbd2 and later won a good game.

I prefer to avoid this with 4. .. exd4. I wonder what Hebden has found in the queen exchange variation as I've usually suffered in the resulting position.

Andrew Martin's comments can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3bsZs0IZiLc

RdC wrote on 04/21/14 at 23:58:15:


Indeed; I noticed that article.
Incidentally those possibilities have come up here before -- hasn't everything? 

http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1201297346/21

I'm always reminded of Hort playing it a few decades ago.  I take the standard view to be that it should be +=, and in the case of the main line 4. d4 d6 in several ways, with White being able to choose among different position types (though Black can determine the type of position by 4...ed, whereupon White should just play 5. Nxd4 rather than 5. c3).

So what is the opinion that most of you have on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7  ..?

http://www.europe-echecs.com/videos/ouvertures-italienne-4...fe7-02-2544.html

3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 also promises an edge: Be7 5.o-o or 5.Nc3 is the Hungarian and Bg4 is answered with 5.h3.

I'll look it up for you. Iirc it should be relatively easy to obtain an advantage, but I am not going to suggest anything without book and board at the ready.

PS it is called Alekhine variation in most Giuco books or they just refer to Alekhine having played it.

While at the GM level, the Lopez can seem stuffy and boring with complex maneuvering, there are plenty of fun (and agressive) lines for white. For example, Fischer was a huge fan of the exchange variation while Short used the Worall attack extremely effectively against Karpov in their Semi-Final match in the early 90s (1992 I think).

I believe this transposes to a Philidor Defense. I always thought the Hungarian Defense was 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7; but maybe I am mistaken. Though 4. c3 seems logical, I find White only scoring 33% after 4...g6 (most of which is due to draws). From here, I find that statistically best is 5. d4 but 5. d4 Qe7 6. O-O Bg7 is nothing for white. The only game I have found where White won after 6...Bg7 is the following, but no other games have continued 7. Bg5 other than this one:

[Event "Balatonbereny op"]
[Site "Balatonbereny"]
[Date "1994.09.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Varga,Zoltan"]
[Black "Zatonskih,Vitaly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C50"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.c3 g6 5.d4 Qe7 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Bg5 f6 8.Be3 Nh6 9.dxe5 fxe5 10.Bg5 Qd7 11.Na3 Nf7 12.Qd2 h6 13.Be3 g5 14.b4 Qe7 15.Bd5 Ncd8 16.Bb3 Ne6 17.c4 Nf4 18.c5 Bg4 19.Kh1 Bxf3 20.gxf3 dxc5 21.Bxc5 Nd6 22.Nb5 Bf8 23.Bxd6 cxd6 24.Qc2 Rb8
25.Nxa7 Qd7 26.Rg1 b5 27.Nc6 Rc8 28.Bd5 Be7 29.a4 bxa4 30.Qxa4 Nxd5 31.exd5 0-0 32.Rg3 Bd8 33.Qc2 Kg7 34.Ra6 Qf7 35.Qe4 Rc7 36.Ra8 Rd7 37.h4 Qh5 38.Qg4 Qxg4 39.Rxg4 Be7 40.Rxf8 Bxf8 41.hxg5 h5 42.Rg1 Rb7 43.Ra1 Kg6 44.Ra8 Bg7 45.Rb8 Rxb8 46.Nxb8 e4 47.fxe4 Kxg5 48.Nc6  1-0

However, there is certainly huge room for Black to improve during the first 10 moves or so. Instead, I'd favor 4. Nc3 (statistically best). Hope this helps.

The one problem with the Giuco Piano is that sometimes even quiet moves can gain Black equality. If you want something dynamic against  1...e5, I love the Ruy Lopez. Yes there's a good deal of theory involved, but then again, why would I be on this site if I had a problem with studying openings. Still, if the theory of the Lopez turns you off (or you simply don't like it) the Vienna and King's Gambit are very interesting tries. I have a soft spot for 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4(!) and though I have switched to the Lopez, I occasionally indulge myself in blitz games.