If I can find them, I will be happy to post them, but I don't know where they are at the moment--I have moved three or four times since then, and I left a number of old chess books and correspondence materials with my parents (some 3000 miles away!).  I would like to think I kept the records, but won't be able to get them for some time.  With any luck, I might also have the Inside Chess article there, too.  I can't find any mention of Inside Chess online, and wonder if it might be possible to track down old issues somewhere?  It was a great magazine...

Yasser Seirawan's old magazine Inside Chess (which I miss a good deal!) had an excellent article on the Chigorin (must have been about 1999) and some very strong and less common lines for White.  Alas, I no longer seem to have the magazine and I don't recall the line and its specifics, but I do remember enjoying good success with the line in correspondence chess...

Quote:



Errm, 

While you're looking at FightingDragon's 11.Ne5, I prefer it a move later (as I noted in a previous post), after 11...Ncd8.  Any comments?

So if I understand you correctly you think that the standard plan with Bb4 is no good?!
Your concept seems interesting, but I didn't really understand Nyback's plan: did he play Bd2 and Qb3 only with the intention to castle long (which could become quite dangerous for his king)?
I suggest another move order for white:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nf6 6.h3!
Now black has to lay his cards on the table:
on 6. ... Bh5 I have the feeling that white is better after 7.g4! 
Bg6 8.Nh4 with Ng6: and Bg2 to follow, see Reich-Wutz, 2005
on 6. ... Bf3: white should continue as in my game:
7.Qf3: Bb4 8.cd5: ed5: 9.Bd3 (another point of white's play is to leave the bishop on c1 as he will recapture on c3 with 
the pawn anyway to strengthen his centre, the bishop may have possibilities at a3) 0-0 10.0-0 a6 11.a3! and also here white should be better.
Perhaps black can try 7. ... a6, though it is not really clear to me how he should continue. What do you think?

@Fightingdragon

I will get home tonight and check with my sources and analyses, so I hope to have something to answer your questions over the weekend

@Smyslov_Fan et al.

I translated the annotations of my game against Plug, so people who can't speak german can follow it as well. It can be found in post #20

Hi!
Nice to receive so much feedback! 
In some points you have convinced me, in others not (but I hope you will do in the end).
Do you have an idea what went wrong in my game (in the first 15 moves)?
Your plan against Epishin looks nice, just didn't look at it close enough. 
About the game against Plüg: it went rather nice for you but what if white decides to exchange his bad "good" bishop with 11.Ne5 (as I gave before)?
By the way, very nice game against Krasenkov!
It is always funny that the Chigorin is frowned upon by many players but in practise success most time proved me right (After I beat an FM in a rapid game in the line with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.cd5: Qd5: 4.e3 e5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bc3: 
7.bc3: Nf6 8.c4 Qd6 9.d5 Ne7 as he built up a strong center which I cracked by playing c7-c6 and b7-b5 he told me: "In my youth we learned to be positional players, this just can't work!"  ).
I looked again at Dizdarevic-Fercec (which I posted in the 2.Nf3 thread) and am not so impressed anymore. With a little more accurate defense white could have stopped black's attack and could have won the game.
Do you have any concrete thoughts on the lines with 3.e3 I gave (like Grant-Hector f.e.)?

This game is for the players who are afraid that the positions after 1.d2-d4 d7-d5 2.Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3.c2-c4 Bc8-g4 4.Nb1-c3 e7-e6 5.c4xd5 e6xd5 6.Bc1-g5 get dry too quickly.

As I said earlier, an interesting idea is to trade the light-squared bishop against the Knight at a right time and then proceed to play ...f7-f5 with attacking prospects on the king side. White will try to start his typical queen side minority attack, but I think Black's chances are better. The black pawn structure sentences the white bishop to a rather measely life:

Plüg,A - Wisnewski,C [D07]
Bargteheider Sparkassen-Cup 2003 Bargteheide, 2003

1.d2-d4 d7-d5 2.Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3.c2-c4 Bc8-g4 4.Nb1-c3 e7-e6 5.c4xd5 e6xd5 6.Bc1-g5 Bf8-e7 7.Bg5xe7 Ng8xe7 8.e2-e3 0-0 9.Bf1-e2 

Takes care of the often annoying pin of the Knight f3. [After [b]9.Bf1-d3[/b] Black cannot play [b]9...Qd8-d6?[/b] to achieve a similar setup like in the actual game. ([b]9...f7-f5!?[/b] seems more typical, though Black has to take care not to let White occupy and secure the outpost e5 with his Knight.)  [b]10.Bd3xh7+! Kg8xh7 11.Nf3-g5+ Kh7-g6 12.Qd1xg4 f7-f5 13.Qg4-f4 Qd6xf4 14.e3xf4 Nc6xd4 15.0-0-0±[/b] with a clearly better position for White] 

9...Qd8-d6 

Bringing the queen into an active position. From here, she can be transferred to the queen side as well as to the king side. 

10.h2-h3 Bg4-h5 

[[b]10...Bg4xf3?![/b] should be looked at, but one can soon reach the conclusion that Black cannot regroup his pieces like in the actual game. [b]11.Be2xf3 f7-f5 12.Qd1-b3 Ra8-d8=[/b] and although the position is equal, the route via d8 for the Nc6 is blocked.] 

11.0-0 Nc6-d8! 

The Knight is being transferred to e6, where he accomplishes many tasks; on the one hand he protects c5, (a critical point, which, in this kind of structure, is often occupied by white pieces) - and on the other hand, he supports a possible advance ...f7-f5-f4. 

12.Ta1-c1 

[[b]12.Nc3-b5?![/b] has the idea to prevent Black from consolidating his queen side, but it simply fails. [b]12...Qd6-b6 13.a2-a4 (13.Nf3-e5 Bh5xe2 14.Qd1xe2 c7-c6 15.Nb5-c3 Qb6-c7=[/b] and Black is comfortable.) [b]13...Bh5xf3 14.Be2xf3 c7-c6 15.Nb5-c3 (15.Nb5-d6? Qb6-c7-+) 15...Qb6xb2[/b] and Black is a pawn up.] 

12...c7-c6 13.Nc3-a4 Nd8-e6 14.Na4-c5 Ne6xc5 15.Rc1xc5 

White plays his classical scheme. He is about to begin his typical minority attack (b2-b4-b5).

15...Bh5xf3! 

Black both eliminates the Knight and lays ground for a large offense on the king side. The game will show that White remains with a "bad" bishop, while the black knight is powerful. 

16.Be2xf3 f7-f5 

Black's play on the king side is just faster than White's play on the queen side. 

17.g2-g3 Rf8-f6 

Protects c6 and also shows new options (doubling of rooks, maneuvers on 6th rank). 

18.Qd1-b3 Ra8-b8 19.Rc5-c3 a7-a6! 

A preventative move. Obviously Black does not want to trade queens after 20.Qa3 and therefore "protects" a7. 

20.Qb3-a3 Qd6-d7 21.Bf3-g2 Ne7-c8 22.Qa3-a5 Nc8-d6 

The Knight has reached its destination. From here, not only he helps to secure Black's queenside (Protection of b7, Control over c4 and b5), but also has offensive potential (possible outpost e4). 

23.Rc3-c2 Kg8-h8 24.h3-h4 Rb8-g8 25.a2-a4 g7-g5 26.h4xg5 Rg8xg5 27.Bg2-f3 Nd6-e4 

Even as Black's position is clearly better, it is not easy to find the right continuation. [I did not like [b]27...f5-f4?![/b] because of [b]28.e3xf4 Rf6xf4 29.Qa5-d2 Qd7-f7 30.Bf3-g2[/b] as the white pawn shield is still intact, while White may be able to create counterplay.; 
[b]27...h7-h5!?[/b] on the other hand would have been interesting. [b]28...h4[/b] is threatening, so White is forced to react with [b]28.Kg1-g2[/b]. But then it seems the idea [b]28...f5-f4[/b] works, as White can't retreat his bishop to g2 this time. There can follow [b]29.e3xf4 Rf6xf4 30.Qa5-d2 Qd7-f5! -/+[/b] with a strong attack.] 

28.Kg1-g2 Qd7-d6 29.Bf3xe4 f5xe4 

The white queen side is paralyzed and Black can do on the king side whatever he wants. It seems though, that White can just hold his position.

30.Rf1-h1 Rf6-f3 31.Rh1-h3 Rg5-f5 32.Qa5-e1 Rf5-f7 33.Rh3-h4 Qd6-f6 34.Qe1-d2 Rf7-g7 35.Rh4-f4 Rf3xf4 36.e3xf4 h7-h5 37.Qd2-e3 a6-a5 38.Rc2-c1 Rg7-h7 39.b2-b3 Kh8-g7 40.f2-f3 h5-h4 41.f3xe4 h4xg3 42.e4xd5 Rh7-h2+ 43.Kg2-g1 Qf6-h4 

1/2 - 1/2

Ok, I have been at home now and can post some games. I have not had much time, so I could not gather all games I promised to post. I will get the rest when I am at home again (which will be tomorrow).

If any of the games are annotated, the annotations are in german. They should (hopefully) be easy enough to understand, but I shall translate them as soon as I have time...