Quote:



I defeated 5 Nxf3 c6  with the waiting move 6 a3!. Check the analyses and games in Blackmar-Diemer Gambit World magazine #79.

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 is ¨¨the main move, and most of us in the forum know that the "Alchemy Variant" is surely an improvement over the "refutation" from Andrew Martin.

but 6.Bd3 is equally interesting. After ..Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Qxd4 9.Be3 followed by 0-0-0 ressemble to 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.g4!!?Qxd4 9.Be3 which leads to an interesting play.

Does Martin mention 7.Ng5 then? You see, that is what most posts are about.

"What do you think of the material imbalance after
1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.Ng5 Bxc2 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Qxc2 Qxd4+ 11.Be3 Qxc4 12.Rf4! Qxf4 13.Bxf4 Bc5+ 14.Kf1 Nbd7 ?
I think black is at least equal here. "

I think:
14.Kh1! (14.Kf1?!) with aggressive possibility, for example:
14...Nbd7 15.Rf1! Rad8 16.Bc7 Rc8 17.Bg3 h6 18.Ne4 Be7 19.Bd6 Rhf8 20.Qb3 Nb6 (20...b6 21.g4+/-) 21.g4 +/-

I started looking at the most principled continuation 8...Bxc2 to see why many people consider this line to very dangerous for black.  I admit that I had not really looked at this line carefully, before looking at the more analyzed 8...Bg6.  I am noticing a pattern that when I do not look carefully at the most principled line, I later tend to regret it.  Now when I am looking at the line, black looks very good!  On Rajmund's website, the line he considers to be critical is:

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.Ng5 Bxc2 9.Nxf7! Kxf7 10.Qxc2! Qxd4+ 11.Be3

I believe the lines 9.Qe2, 9.Qxc2, 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Qe2, and 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Bxe6 are advantageous for black.  Patrik (Sevenviolets) wrote a summary of these lines on page 3 of this thread.  The line 9.Qe2 was analyzed to a safe advantage for black by Bonsai in this thread.

However, I have a question on the line 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10. Qxc2 Qxd4+ 11.Be3.  Here the only continuation considered is 11...Qxe3+.  When I looked at the position after 11.Be3 the first move I considered was 11...Qxc4, and when I looked further at the analysis on Rajmund's site, I was surprised it wasn't considered.  It seems natural to me to remove the light-squared bishop which targets e6 and black's general light-square weakenesses on the kingside.  Taking the bishop on e3 is very dangerous for these reasons, as Rajmund demonstrates in his analysis.  At first, I thought I was missing a simple tactic after 11...Qxc4, but looked and found nothing immediate.  Then I looked at what long term pressure white had, but never found anything remotely convincing.  Without the light-squared bishop, white's pressure seems significantly weakened.  Here are a couple of possibilities:

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.Ng5 Bxc2 9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.Qxc2 Qxd4+ 11.Be3 Qxc4 12.b3 Qb4 13.Ne4 Nbd7 14.Ng5+ Kg8 15.a3 [15.Nxe6 Qe4] Qe7 16.Qc4 Re8 17.Rae1 h6

I don't see anything approaching compensation for the piece.  Black doesn't seem to have a difficult defense either.  Is there something I am missing after 11...Qxc4?

Update:  12.Rf4! traps the queen.  Seeing the blunder in Anand-Kramnik made me think about this.  (Kramnik missed a horizontal rook double attack.)  After 12.Rf4 Qa6 13.Ra4 surprisingly wins the queen!  I wondered why this move wasn't considered.  The computers probably picked it up in a second!  I think this at least deserves a footnote in the analysis, as 11...Qxc4 is natural move for a human player.  It is very disturbing to miss something like this!

At first impulse, I thought about deleting this post.  However, I don't think this is completely useless.  After all, black gets a knight, rook and two pawns for a queen.  At least I think the move deserves consideration.

"1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.0-0 e6 8.Ng5 Bg6 9.Ne2 Nd5!? 10.Bd3 Qd6 11.c4 Nf6 12.Bf4 Qd7!? 13.Be5 Be7 14.Nf4 Na6 15.Bxg6 hxg6 16.Qd3
16...0-0! 17.Qh3"
(why?)

better 17.Nxg6 (Excuse me, but the move takes - for example by Shredder - about  2 sec.; 17.Nfxe6+- too) 17...fxg6 18.Qxg6 Qe8 19.Rxf6+-

Yes, I don't think things are so great for black after 16...Rf8.  Black's king placement and the weakness on e6 give white too much compensation.  Something made me feel a little uneasy about this, especially when I thought about it more after waking up.  After 16...Rf8, black seems to be making too many awkward moves.  I think the only idea left to make 12...Qd7 work is with 16...0-0.  I had initially not considered this move, as I thought it was bad due to 17.Qh3 (the reason 0-0 usually fails), however Qd7 seems to serve a useful purpose here in that it defends e6, and free the king's rook.

For example, after 16.Qd3 0-0 17.Qh3 Rfd8, 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Qh7+ and sacrifices on g6 seem to back fire. Still white may have enough compensation after 18.Rad1, though the problem for white's attack seems to be that it is difficult to find more constructive moves to find a way into black's position.  I think the assessment depends on the quality of black's counterplay at this point.  If white has enough time, he can play for a rook lift with Qh4, Rf3-h3.

So after 16.Qd3 0-0 17.Qh3, 17...Rfd8?! is not so clear; however, I think 17...Nh5!? needs to considered.  So far, I have analyzed the resulting complications in black's favor, so I think this is critical.  This needs to be checked, since if this idea works, I think black's position is viable to play for an advantage.  Here, I think it is important to leave the rook on f8 to make this resource work as it serves a useful defensive function, which is one reason I do not like 17...Rfd8.

That's it for now.  I might post some more analysis later, but right now I'm hungry.