I have noticed that all Dragon books that cover the following line:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 behave as though
13.Qxc3 is now forced, Neither Ward, Golubev, Gufeld, Levy, Schneider, Rogozenko, Kosanovic and more recently Dearing even consider
13.Bxc3 and I wonder why is that as this is a perfectly reasonable if not popular option.
What the books are fond of mentioning is that after
13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Kb1? loses to
e5. Surely if that obvious tactic is worth a comment, then
13.Bc3 deserves some attention too.
The following illustrative game by GM Ferdinand Hellers serves to show that the move should be taken seriously.
[Event "Politiken Cup 13th"]
[Site "Copenhagen"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "0"]
[White "Hellers,Ferdinand"]
[Black "Hansen,Carsten"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B76"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Bxc3 Qc7 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.Bc4 Bb7 16.h4 h5 17.g4 Rad8 18.Qe3 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 hxg4 20.fxg4 c5 21.h5 e5 22.Qg5 1-0
Ok Dragonites, what say you on this illusory issue.
Toppy