Michael Ayton wrote on 07/05/05 at 08:54:55:
Also, can anyone tell me what’s wrong with 2 …d6 3 d4 Bg4!?, which is not really covered on ChessPub, nor in NCO? ...
The other major line is 4 d5, on which there’s perplexingly little commentary. After 4 …Ne5!? it seems 5 Ne5 is no problem ...
It seems black has to play 4...Nb8.
Panayotis Frendzas (pfren) recently posted a game at chess.com which overturns the ancient theoretical assessment. In Hort (1981)
Alekhine's Defence, Keene gave 10.Nd5 "unclear/=+" (see page 243), while in Kapitaniak (1982)
Nimzovich Defence it was 12...Bxe4 "=+" (see page 55). Meanwhile pfren says black is lost.
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/mikenas-defensegood-or-bad?page=...Although the engine slightly prefers 15...Kb8 over 15...Ka8, black doesn't have much hope.
[Event "World op 32nd 9rd swiss"]
[Site "Philadelphia USA"]
[Date "2004.07.04"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Friedel, Joshua E"]
[Black "Shibut, Macon A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2483"]
[BlackElo "2289"]
[EventDate "2004.07.01"]
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.d5 Ne5 5.Nxe5 Bxd1 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 Qa5+ 8.Nc3 O-O-O 9.Nc4 Qc7 10.Nd5 Bxc2 11.Nxc7 Kxc7 12.cxb7 Bxe4 13.Be3 Kxb7 14.f3 Bd5 15.Na5+ Ka8 16.Rc1 e6 17.Ke2 Ne7 18.Rc7 Nc8 19.Rhc1 Be7 20.Ba6 Kb8 21.Bxc8 1-0