Craig – don’t know if you’re a subscriber but a lot of it’s in the updates and some on the old forum, however briefly the problems which have recently arisen in the 4PA are thus:

 

6….c5/e6; it seems that 10 d6 is very strong. Notwithstanding Andrew’s brave efforts on Black’s part, I think Black is simply lost in Bryson-Luther (the queen sacrifice with 16 Qc1, in a past update somewhere). I also think Black was in trouble in Movsessian-Luther (in my book, also in the updates I think) following a simple Bxa7 at some obvious early stage, round about move 13/4. This was apparently mentioned in his Alekhine video in German by Luther (I haven’t seen this) and posted here by (I think) Inn2. For good measure I also think Black is struggling in the line in Bender-Rogulj, again in the updates I think).

 

6…c5/g6. I don’t like 8 h3 for the reasons I give in the book. Otherwise Black actually seems to be doing quite well – see Movsessian-someone in a recent update. A reasonable place to look.

 

9…Bg4. It seems to be agreed that White can force the tedious de Firmian-Atalik ending, and in the game Illescas-Baburin in a recent update White deviated slightly by delaying f4. This caused Black to self-destruct, but may also have objective merit by keeping the possibility of Be3-g5. Black could really use an improvement over Koch-Konopka: possibly what I suggest in my book, possibly something else.

 

The move order tricks trying to get …Bb4 before ….Nc6 don’t work IMHO – see my book.

 

The …Bb4/…Nc6 combo is dubious anyway for the reasons in the book.

 

9…Qd7/…Rd8 has had no games in it recently but has always been considered a tiny bit dodgy. Markovich posted some interesting thoughts on this before the Great Crash.

 

That leaves the rather dubious 5…g5/g6 ideas, and the old main line with 9…Be7, and what has depressed people there is the game Dominguez-Almeira, a quiet approach for White which seems to allow a clear edge. Rozentalis has recently sought to revive 10…Nb4, and time may tell about that. Markovich also posted some other ideas, which on the whole served to narrow the area in which Black should look rather than the reverse.

 

That may not help that much unless you’ve lashed out on either membership or my book, of course, but still. The Dominguez game is the real downer, I think, coming in a line where Black has always been considered comfortably equal. For real Alekhine anoraks, there was also a game recently which refuted a glib observation in my book (19…Bd5, if anyone’s counting) and suggests that Black may after all have to play the rather tediously equal B/N/N v B/B/N-and-damaged-pawns ending.