I think Black's got a way better game.  White's knight on h8 is going to drop.  Black's development is easy and it's going to take White's QR forever to see the light of day.

MNB, the piece sac is dubious to (Would this program allow me to spell out his first name ?) Van Geet because it does not fit in with his style. But then, many many current lines in 'his' opening do not fit his style. As Keilhack writes, what white needs to do in this position is consolidate his endgame advantage. I'd gladly take this position as white any time... in fact it is what I hope for when I start out with 1.Nc3..(Have you ever tried to stop such a central pawn roller ? Even if you find a way to sacrifice your extra piece as efficiently as possible you'll only get two pawns for it).
By the way : have you read the review on Keilhacks book by the 'supervisor' of the Flank Openings on www.jeremysilman.com ? (It is about the original version in German, not about the updated translation. A posting from 'our' Tracke gets quoted in the book.)
I'll look into the bravehoptoadline this weekend.

You guys might be interested to learn, that a few years ago DD van Geet himself called the piece sac dubious ....

Quote:


Well, this is certainly not bad, of course, but it is playing on White's territory.  After, say, 3...e5 4.Ng3 Be6 (to stop Bc4) 5.Nf3 f6 (5...Nc6 6.Bb5!) 6.c3 d3 (6...c5 7.Bb5†) 7.Nxe5!? things get very interesting - White generally picks up the pawns on e5 and d3, with three pawns for the pice and a fairly impressive phalanx of central pawns, while Black's king is somewhat discomfited and he has trouble co-ordinating his pieces.  All in all, it seems to me that White's game is the easier to play here.

I am not an expert on the Van Geet Opening, but I think Black faces some fresh problems after 1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3 and 3.d4. White has some nasty tricks available with Ndb5, Nd5 and Bf4. This limits Black's possibilities to transpose to a regular Sicilian.

Moro explained himself the reason in New in Chess : this move order avoids Polgar's Taimanov/Kan and allow the Najdorf.

1.Nc3 Nf6! 2.f4 d5 is Bird, 2.d4 d5 is Richter Veresov, 2.e4 e5 is Vienna. This might be the explanation.

Nigel Short on Morozevich-Polgar, San Luis, Round 12.
"I cannot recall the Van Geet Opening (1.Nc3) ever making an appearance in an event of this level. Of course the opening in itself is based on sound principles: its only real drawback is that it has virtually no independent significance. If Whites wishes to take the position down original paths then he must choose second-rate moves with which to do it. "
So why would Moro have chosen this opening (to transpose on the next move already) ?