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:
(1) 6 …e6 7 c3 Nf6 8 Nbd2. H. says White’s a bit better after 8 …Be7 9 0-0 0-0 10 Re1 Na5 11 Bc2 c5 12 Nf1 Rc8, but 12 …cd 13 cd Nc6 looks like a clear improvement. Also Lehmann-Van Geet, Hoogovens 1964 went 8 …Na5 9 Bc2 c5 10 0-0 Be7 11 Qe2 cd 12 cd Qb6 (12 …Rc8!?) 13 Rd1 Nc6 14 Nb3 d5 15 e5 Nd7 16 Be3 Na5 17 Na5 Qa5 18 a4 and White won, but what about 16 …0-0, intending …Rac8?
(2) 6 …Nf6 7 c3 e5 8 0-0 Be7. Now H. points out that 9 Re1 0-0 is a 9 d4 Bg4 Spanish (C91), but in citing Adorjan’s 9 h3 Bh5! (9 …Bf3?! 10 Qf3 ed 11 Qg3!) fails to mention that this is a (C84) Spanish too. (In the Spanish move order, the first line is usually reached via 3 …a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 [or occasionally 7 …0-0 8 d4 d6! 9 c3 Bg4], and the second line frequently via the Steinitz Defence Deferred, 4 …d6 5 0-0 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5!? 7 c3 Nf6! 8 d4 b5!? 9 Bb3 Be7, but both lines may also be reached via 3 …a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 b5!? 6 Bb3 Be7 7 d4 d6 8 c3 Bg4.) So is there anything wrong with 9 …Bh5?
The other major line is 4 d5, on which there’s perplexingly little commentary. After 4 …Ne5!? it seems 5 Ne5 is no problem, but how should Black handle 5 Bb5, not mentioned by H.?. There’s also 4 …Nb8!?. Here White has a large plus score in the lines where he plays Nc3 not c2-c4 (which for some reason is all H. and Myers consider), but how easy is it for him to prove an advantage if, say, Black handles the position like a Modern with …c6 and answers h3 with …Bd7? (I guess this transposes to 3 …Nf6 4 Nc3 Bg4 5 d5 Nb8 lines.)
Can anyone shed any further light on these 3 …Bg4 lines, and/or indicate what Berdichevsky says about them?
PS Should this whole thread be in the Daring Defences Forum?
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