Quote:In the KG/Modern Variation thread Dragonslayer has posted some analysis of the Pierce Gambit. I have a question for him and others.
After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Pf3 g5 4.Pc3 Pc6 5.d4 g4 6.Lc4 gxf3 7.0-0 Pxd4 8.Lxf4 Lc5 9.Le3 Pe2+ 10.Kh1 Lxe3 11.Lxf7+ Kxf7 12.Dxe2 Lg5 13.Dxf3+ Kg7 14.Df7+ Kh6 15.g4 Pf6 16.Tf3 Pxg4 17.Th3+ Lh4
what about 18.Tf1 Dg5 19.Tf5 Pe5 20.Txg5 Pxf7 21.Tgg3 Pg5 22.Txh4+ Kg6 23.Tf4 ?
I do not know how to judge this position. White will remain some material down (probably a pawn) but Black's pieces are not the most active of the board.
This is ok for White, I had analyzed this some more moves: 21.Rgg3 (21.Rg2 should also be considered since it defends c2, which is important in some variations where the knight captures on c7) Ng5 22.Rxh4+ Kg6 23.Rf4 d6 24.h4 h6 White should draw, but has negligible winning chances. 25.Nd5 is met by 25...c6. When White captures on g5 Black will probably rely h6-h5 when pawn-g5 leaves the King a nice blockade square on g6.
There are lots of variations where White can win back the pawn but the result is often a complicated rook endgame, quite a detour for the KG player!
Black also has 19...Qc1+ then 20.Rf1 Qg5 is a repetition, but White has the interesting 20.Nd1!? (luring the queen away from g5) Qxd1+ 21.Rf1 Qxf1+ (forced) 22.Qxf1 d6 23.Qf7 Kg5 leaves Black with a bunch of pieces for the queen. White can draw with 24.Qg7+ or play for the win with 24.Qe7+. The queen can win some pawns but I don't see how White can prevent Black from setting up a fortress, since the e-pawn will never advance past e6. But is it definitely playable and easier to be White.
Another problem variation I had was 22...Nf2+ 23.Qxf2 Bxh3 24.Qxh4+ Kg6 25.Qxh3 White can draw, but hardly play for the win.
Bu now I see that White can also play 22.Qf4+! Kg6 23.Rxh4 h5 24.h3 Ne5 25.Qg3+ and the rook reenters play.
So the position after 23.Rf4 is critical.
In the g2-g3 lines I had an idea recently: 3...g5 4.Nc3 Nc6 and now 5.g3!? aiming at the typical position but this poses all new questions like 5...g4 6.Nh4 Nd4!?
In the other lines I agree with MNb, White should probably insert the 'pair' h3/h5 since it weakens the important f5 square.
I like the idea 8.h3 h5 9.Be3 but did you consider 9...Bf6 ? Then 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.exf5 is similar to the line given by Burgess in 101 Opening surprises (8.Be3 Bf6 9.Nf5 Bxf5 10.exf5) The point being here that White cannot play as in Furhoff-Eriksson, Helsingborg 1991 (9.Qd2 Bxh4 10.gxh4 Qxh4+ 11.Bf2 will (with h3/h5 included) be met by g4-g3.)
I thought the last piece of analysis (Emms' 10.Nf5 etc.) was by Ben Hague.