OK....let me put this to anyone in an easier way.
(Otherwise this question seems to be snowballing the wrong way).

Does ANYONE have the rest of the theory in their chess software starting from 17...,Nh5?!

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7  5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8. bxc3 (8. Qxc3 ) Nd7 9. e4 c5 10. Bf4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Rc8 12. Qb3 Be7 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. Qb5+ Qd7 15. Ne5 Qxb5 16. Bxb5+ Kf8 17. f3 Nh5!? (Mainline theory says 17...., Ne8).

I know this is piling on, but I agree too, Markovich.

Having said that, it would be a nice surprise to see the GMs and IM throw in their two cents/ pence/centimes' worth.

GM Kosten has been fantastic about replying to interesting questions in the past.

Excalibur wrote on 07/16/06 at 06:30:52:


I am a paying member of all sections of ChessPub, but I don't think expect the GMs and IMs who contribute here to answer just any question that I post on this forum.  For one thing, not everyone who posts here is a subscriber.  For another, the subcription fee is for access to the updates, not for your own personal GM chessbuddy.  Moreover, I think that questions of the form, "What's the best way to play against the X system?" are too broad to deserve much attention from the strong players who contribute to ChessPub.  If you want to know what top-level players are playing against the X system, it's easy enough to find out from a chess data base; you don't need to have some GM tell you personally.  Also from databases, you can easily discover the personal preference versus the X system of any given GM who has faced it.

Kotzen ?  

2 QUESTIONS FOR GM TONY KOSTEN!

Hi, Tony (and other interested chess members)

I have 2 important questions:
(A). What's white's best continuation in: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb6 4. Nc3 Bb7  line?!
Is it 5. g3 OR 5. a3?!

(B). How should White proceed in this line:  1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7  5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8. bxc3 (8. Qxc3 ) Nd7 9. e4 c5 10. Bf4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Rc8 12. Qb3 Be7 13. Bd3 Nf6 14. Qb5+ Qd7 15. Ne5 Qxb5 16. Bxb5+ Kf8 17. f3 Nh5!? (Mainline theory says 17...., Ne8). 18. Bd2 g5.  
Should White continue with 19.h4! now?!  
Any strongish continuations will be appreciated.  

My first name is not Tony and I am certainly not a GM, but I still know the answer: 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+.

With the options available to Black after 1 d4, I'm not entirely sure what would entice an enterprising Black player to work on the Bogo as a primary (or even secondary) weapon at the top level.   

I don't see the Bogo appealing to the younger set of emerging super-GMs, though I could be wrong.  There seem to be too many ways for White to squelch Black's play, suck the air out of the position, and reduce Black's chances to nil.  And then there's transposing into a 4 Qc2 Nimzo a tempo down!

I haven't spent as much time (recently) with the Bogo-Indian, but I'm not sure it's more directly related to the Nimzo than the QID.  Outside of putting a bishop on b4 to stake some control over e4 and possibly parting with that same bishop relatvely early, it seems to me that the Nimzo and QID share a lot more in common...

Dropping the search down(?!) to games between players rated 2600+, one can find 21 games since 1999, though Zvjaginsev is the only "regular" practitioner (he's Black in 5 of those games--second are Adams & Ivanchuk with 2 each).  Racing through a few of those games, it seems as though the Bogo can have a little surprise value for Black (and an early-ish ... f5 seems to stake a claim at a good amount of space on the board), but when Black loses, Black really loses!