**This isn't my analysis, don't credit me with it**
<"Another dangerous line for Black is 8 . . . NxN; 9 PxN, BxP?; 10 B-R3!! and wins." -Fred Reinfeld, along with numerous other sources. Right now, I guess I'm questioning the validity of 10.Ba3, which I now hold to be bad.>
You have to remember he didn't have modern computer analysis like you probably have and most modern chess players have, back when he wrote those books. At first glance it DOES seem winning. Black can't castle, the e-file's open costing white only an exchange of a piece which is not even developed yet. However I would not dismiss Ba3 yet!
***Let's take a look...10. Ba3!? d5 11. Ba6! clearly this is stronger and more promising than Bb5. 11...bxa6 12. Rc1
a.) 12...Ne7 13. Rxc3 0-0, then comes the forcing sequence 14. Re1 Re8 15. Rce3 Be6 16. Ng5 Nf5 17. Qh5 h6 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Rxe6 Rxe6 20. Rxe6 Qg5 21. Qxg5 hxg5 22. Bc5 with the clearly better endgame.
b.) So black should probably try 12...Bb4 13. Bxb4 Nxb4 14. Qa4+ c6
(not 14...Qd7?! 15. Rfe1+ Kd8 16. Qxb4 f6, preventing the winning move Ne5!, 17. Rc5 Re8 18. Rec1 Qd6 19. Qa5 Qb6 20. Qc3 Re7 21. Rxd5+ Bd7 22. Rc5 23. Qc4 with the clear idea of d5 and Nd4-e6 which is winning. This is just one more long forcing line where white has great initiative.)
15. Qxb4 Qe7 16. Qxe7 Kxe7, leading to another better white endgame, 17. Re1+ Be6 18. Rxc6 Rhb8 19. Ng5 Rb6 (forced) 20. Rc7+ Kf6 21. h4 h6 22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Rec1! Rb8 24. R1c3! Rb4 25. Rf3+ Kg6 26. Rfxf7 Rxd4 27. Rxg7+ Kf5 28. h5! Rd1+ 29. Kh2 Rd2 30. Rcf7+ Ke5 31. f4+ and there's no stopping white's pawns after Rg6's.
This long endgame line was pretty forced. And the fact that black was responding to white the entire time doesn't say much for this Nxc3 bxc3 Bxc3 line.***
What happens if black declines taking with bxa6....for instance with 10. Ba3 d5 11. Ba6 Ne7?
Well then 12. Rc1 Ba5
***12...0-0?! 13. Rxc3 bxa6 14. Qe2 Be6 15. Ng5 Re8 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qxe6+ Kh8 18. Qf7 Rc8
(else any e7 knight move loses the c-pawn and the 7th rank)
19. Rcc1! an important move for utilizing white's advantage. What a position! It's virtual virtual zugzwang!
19...a5
What else can black play? He's tied down to c7 and certainly can't just give white the e-file with Rxe1+? Rxe1)
20. Rxe8 Qxe8 21. Qxe8 Rxe8 22. g3 with an obviously winning endgame.***
so, continuing from 12..Ba5 13. Qa4+ c6 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. Qa3+ Kd7 16. Ne5+ Ke8 17. Rc5! Bb6 18. Rxc6!! bxc6 19. Nxc6 Qc7 20. Bb5 a6 21. Ba4 Be6 22. Rc1 and its clear after this forcing line the bad drawbacks of 8...Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3.
In short, at the very least white has a clearly better endgame, but black has no counterplay, he's always responding to white's moves. That's why everyone plays Bxc3, and ignores going after the pawn. So it turns out Ba3 isn't so bad! In my heart I knew it had to be correct.
Well the Greco attack is almost always avoided in Grandmaster play as white anyway! Regardless of the fact I showed how white gets a great game with that line (only if black plays 8...Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 though.) Almost everyone universally plays 5. d3.
Let me make my stance clear though. On 8...Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 I would play 10. Qb3 in an over the board game. 10. Ba3 is an abstract move, as I showed it's a long ways down the road in many lines before its clear why white is good. My choice in a game would be 10. Qb3. I agree with DoctorK's analysis of those lines upwards in the thread.
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NeX iRae
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