lnn2 wrote on 09/14/06 at 15:44:05:


Hi,

Yes, Dautov had something on that in both the Yearbook and Informant.  IIRC, in the second line I gave (which was used effectively by Spassky as white against Fischer in 1992), Dautov seemed to think that Black's best is 9...Bg4 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Nbd7 12. Qd1 Nh5, and then taking on c3 unless White plays e.g. 13. Bd2.  He gave that as leading to an equal or unclear position, as opposed to the plus-over-equals which books usually give for this line.

On the first line (with h3), I recall John Watson writing that he isn't a fan of it for Black and thinks that White can get a slight but lasting advantage.  On the other hand, I believe ECO has long given it as equal with best play.

As for the Topalov-Radjabov game, I remember some commentary at the time to the effect that White had been better out of the opening, but I've always had the impression that Nge2 is supposed to be less challenging than Nf3 in these lines. 

I recall a couple of repertoire-type publications advocating this way of playing for Black (sometimes called the Gheorghiu Benoni, after the Romanian GM who now seems to be fulfilling his annual role of agreeing to a bunch of quick draws against young players over there in Lausanne):  a book by Marovic and Parma, and an article in the US magazine Chess Life in the 1980s (by Silman and Donaldson, I think).  I suppose a lot of Benoni players find the exd5 lines annoying, and that's why the "Gheorghiu" isn't more popular.

The best source on 8 .. Nbd7 is probably Palliser's survey in the recent NIC year book (79 iirc) - also a few updates on the Nimzo/Benoni's section here.

I've been looking at the 8 .. Nfd7 a little and I'm rather confused about the move order choices around move 9. In particular I can't work out why 9 a4 has replaced 9 Bd3 to the extent that it has. Indeed even Nf3 has been mentioned more often here Psakhis mentions that 9 a4 allows white to save a tempo with Re1/Bf1 in one go.

However as far as I can tell the only lines where this actually happens are ones where black goes for Na6 -> b4: which is something that 9 a4 specifically provokes! In particular any line with 9 Bd3 a6 10 a4 is = to 9 a4 a6 10 Bd3 but white can presumably also go for 10 Nf3 if he wishes here. 

The traditional main line (from Watson) after 9 Bd3 is apparently 9 .. o-o 10 Nf3 Na6 11 o-o Nc7 when white can presumably play 12 a4 (= to 9 a4 o-o 10 Nf3 Na6 11 o-o Nc7 12 Bd3. Perhaps 12 Bxd7+ is the problem here?) or ignore the threat to play b5 cf the 9 Nf3 lines (as iirc Watson gives).

Black can also play for Qh4+ -> e7/d8 but then again I'm not sure why white has to have a4 in until black plays a6 here: in Watson's line against 9 Bd3 black is a long way from threatening b5 (there's a knight on b6 in front of the pawn.).

Then there's the question of 9 Nf3: this obviously prevents Qh4+ ideas, but what happens if black ignores the chance to play 9 . a6 and 10 .. b5 in favour of a quick o-o/Na6->c7 or something? Unless he's wiped out by some rapid e5 break or Bxd7/f5 idea once no black knight can reach e5 (both quite possible!) this might somehow transpose back to the traditional Bd3 main line.

Of course all of these lines are ~ equivalent - however it does seem that white has a little scope for move order tricks with Bd3. Have I missed anything concrete?

I have a question about move orders here:

Can't black easily avoid the Taimanov/Flick Knife/whatever by delaying e6 and castling first?
A guy at my chess club always plays that way (after I blew him away a few times with the Taimanov) and I'm not aware of any way to take advantage of this move order.

It goes like: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 
and now after f4 I'm in the 4 pawns attack of the KID, which is not a line I play with white. So I play 6. Nf3 0-0 7. Be2 e6 8. 0-0 exd5 9. cxd5 and we have transposed to the main line where I hardly manage to get any advantage.

I see statements that Black should be ok in the old 8.Nbd7 lines (Flick-Knife), but I haven't seen any suggestions of what Black's best tries are.

I am new to playing the white side of this, so naturally I am quite curious. My current knowledge is based on the game Anand-Topalov, Wijk aan Zee, 1996, which I feel looks quite good for white. It was annotated by Seirawan in his June column in the Chesscafe: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/yaz58.pdf




If you could direct me to other significant games in this line I should study and where Black's hopes lie, I'd be happy. 

At least in Blitz games (with the white peaces) I have scored VERY well with the main line (a4) as long as I play early f5.  I´m currently analysing this line with Shredder 8 and Junior 9 si I will keep you posted

8...Nbd7!? certainly looks like a good practical weapon. Quite possibly 12 Kd2!? is then critical, but then think of Ivanov-Cheparinov! A great game! Is Black doing so badly in the older lines; I wasn't so convinced by the Vaisser and Kapengut (CBM) surveys.

Quote:


that's part of the reason why my pawns tend to go on f3 than f4! At least i get the centre without it being too vulnerable   

But in the case of the benoni my preferred choice is the flick knife. 8... Nbd7 is still dubious. I refer to NIC yearbook 69. Even the Kd2 sideline is good for White.