[quote author=Michael Ayton  link=1118977737/0#6 date=1120553695]2 …d5 is certainly interesting. I seem to remember Vlassov publishing an article on it on Kasparov’s old website. What do you reckon are the critical lines, guidedbyvoices? Some books suggest 2 …d5 transposes to a Scandinavian, but I think it unlikely Black would reach these positions via 1 …d5.

Also, can anyone tell me what’s wrong with 2 …d6 3 d4 Bg4!?, which is not really covered on ChessPub, nor in NCO? Harding says 4 Bb5 a6 5 Ba4 b5 6 Bb3 is good for White, but is this clearly so? For example:
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for my money the critical lines of 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d5 variation are where white plays an early Bb5, i would venture to suggest that black is ok against other lines. Bb5 can be played either with or without d4. for instance one line was 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d5 3ed Qxd5 4Nc3 Qa5 5d4 Bg4 6Bb5 and now Vlassov has played 0-0-0 7Bc6 bc 8h3 Qh5 9Qd3 Bf3 10gf e5 11Qa6 Kd7(!) the exclamation mark is given by Berdichevsky but I dont agree with it since after the obvious 12de capture (which Berdichevsky doesnt even mention)  it looks to me like white is much better, still Vlassov has played it with success against top GMs so who am i to argue  ;)

Maybe a better line for black is 6...e6 as endorsed by Myers when I think Black may be just about ok eg 7h3 Bh5 8g4 Bg6 9Ne5 Bb4!

An even better line for white may be if he delays playing d4 since the d4 pawn only seems to serve as a target for black in this line,  for example 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d5 3ed Qxd5 4Nc3 Qa5 5Bb5 Bd7 (Hort played a6 here against Karpov back in the 70s but please dont do it, Bg4 is also bad now) 60-0 a6 7Bxc6 Bxc6 8d4 0-0-0 9Ne5 Be8 10b4! was Emms-Kristensen 1996 in which Emms scored a crushing victory with his b4 novelty. There are earlier deviations which Black can take however. I would love to see Vlassovs article on this line as he is the main exponent of it, so if anyone knows where an online copy is to be found or even where one can be purchased I would be grateful.

Regarding your 3..Bg4 suggestion Michael it certainly seems that it can lead to some interesting deviations, however can't white just play as in the main line with 4Be3 which will lead back into 3Nf6 lines after Nc3 and Be2 or is blacks idea to play e5 rather than e6 followed by d5?  

its also worth mentioning that after 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d6 3d4 Nf6 4Nc3 Bg4 5Be3 e6 6Be2 Be7 7d5 Bxf3 white can respond 8gxf3 (rather than Bxf3) hoping to make use of the semi-open g file after castling queenside.
personally i think that 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d5 is underated and more interesting for black than the 2..d6 lines but it might not suit someone so much if you want to play 1e4 Nc6 2d4 e5 as it would if you played 1e4 Nc6 2d4 d5.

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3...Na5 is certainly a joke, white wins a piece after 4b4.  After 4Nf3 then 4...Ng6 is probably best, black will develop his dark squared bishop on either c5 or b4 depending on whites plan.

its not exactly a new line but i've always felt that after 1e4 Nc6 2Nf3 d6 3d4 Nf6 4Nc4 Bg4 5Be3 e6 6Be2 Be7.. 7d5! gives white the better of things. i know Miles played the black side of it quite successfully a few times but i dont think its to everyones tastes.