( SECOND PART)
Continuing with the analysis, let us first consider
V) 3.Nxe5
Va) 3.Nxe5 Nc6?!(The Fraser Variation)
I wouldn't call this bad, may be, "only" a dubious move.
After the plausible 4.Nxc6, Black is a pawn down, but with good piece development for compensation.
The old move 4.Qh5+ has several complicated lines. One way out for Black is 4..g6 5.Nxg6 Nf6 6.Qh4 (6.Qh3 hxg6! 7.Qxh8 Qe7 etc.) 6..Rg8 7.e5 (7.Nxf8 Rg4!) 7..Rxg6 8.exf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 Rxf6 10.c3 d5 (or 10..Re6+ etc) and I didn't see the way to improve White middlegame, Black may hold the ending with his superior development and more active pieces (Melchor-Rosenstielke, email 5th. LG World Tournament-final,2005-06)
The best move is the so-called Nunn's "refutation" 4.d4! Now 4..Qh4? runs into 5.Nf3!Qxe4+ 6.Be2 Bb4+ 7.c3 Be7 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1and White has a terrific lead in development or even 4..Qe7!? 5.Nc3 Nf6
Instead Black should play 4..Qf6!? with a reasonable position.
Vb) 3.Nxe5 Nf6!?
This may become one of th main lines in future. Black loses a whole pawn, but without embroiling himself in complex variations. Often there is an exchange of queens and also the queenside pawns with a draw on account the resulting 3 vs.2 pawns on the kingside.
- 4.d4 fxe4 is a transposition to 3.d4, not a problem for Black
- 4.Nc3 permits the Black the complete freedom in the old well-known line 4..fxe4 5. Bc4 d5! 6.Nxd5 Nxd5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 hxg6!, so it's one of the the Main Lines of Chapter 12 in Kosten's book "The Latvian gambit lives!", now:
9.Qxh8?! can be met by 9..Qf6 or 9..Nb4!? and even 9..Qg5!?,
9.Qxg6+ Ke7!? 10.d3 (!? Kosten) 10..Qd6!? i.e. 11.Bg5+ Kd7 12.Qf5+ Kc6 13.Qxc8 Qe5 etc. ,
Alternately 9.Qxg6 Kd7 is not problem either (10. Bxd5 Qe8!? -Destrebecq -, or 10..c6 )
-4.exf5 d6 is O.K.
Or 4..Qe7 5.Qe2 d6 the Queens may be exchanged with reasonable drawing chances.
-4.Bc4 is only relatively "dangerous"
After 4..Qe7 5.d4 Nc6 by trasposition we are in Morgado System named after his success at the beginning of '70s.
6.0-0 White has only a slight adventage according Kosten's book
6.Nc3!? may be stronger.
6... Nxe5 7.dxe5 Qxe5 8.0-0 returns the pawn, but opens up the position leaving Black's King and Queen on the same file. Now 8..fxe4 9.Nd5! threatening Bf4 is dangerous for Black.
Instead Kosten suggests 8..Bd6!? 9.g3 fxe4 and, if 10.Bf4 directly, 10..Qc5 11.Bxd6 Qxc4 or 12.Re1 Bb4 playable for Black.
Vc) 3.Nxe5 Qf6 This is the Main Line 4.d4 d6 5.Nc4 fxe4 6.Nc3 Qg6 7.f3 (Now for 7...Nf6 Kranz Variation, see the Chessville article Latvian Gambit Revisited
http://www.chessville.com/instruction/Openings/LatvianGambitRevisited.htm)
exf3 8.Qxf3, all right Craig, I am with you when you say that Black is not doing well, especially after 8..Be7?!; 8..Nc6 9.Nb5! or 8..Nf6 9.Ne3!,
But what about less played 8..Qg4!?;
Now 9.Qf2 Nf6 is O.K. 10.Be2 Qg6 11.Bd3 Qh5 12.0-0 Be7 (or 12..Nc6)
*13.Ne2 0-0 14.h3 Nc6 15.Nf4 Qe8 (15..Qf7) = Fleischmann-Cano,corr.,1970 by trasposition
*13.Be3 0-0 14.h3 (14.Qg3 Nc6 15.Rae1 Bd7 =) 14..Nc6 15.Qg3 Be6 = Gaard-Müller,corr.1988/89 by trasposition
* 13.Bf4 0-0 14.h3 Nc6 15.Rae1 Bd7 16.Ne3 White has more space, but Black is solid
(Kosten)---Bergsma-Wijnands, Rotterdam, 1939 by trasposition (1/2-1/2 in 60 moves)
* 13.Bd2 0-0 14.h3 Nc6 15.Qe3 Bd7 16.Rae1 Rae8 17.Ne2 1/2-1/2 Hewitt-Thornton, 1998, also by trasposition
* 13.Bd2 0-0 14.h3 Nc6 15.Rae1 Bd7 followed by ..Rae8 = Knostenbergs-Melchor, corr., 2001-02 (1/2-1/2 in 31 moves)
White can try15.Ne3 or Qg3, but they may be met by15..d5.
So perhaps White has to try for an improvement earlier. Ideas?, maybe 13.Nb5!?; 11.Ne3!?
Vd) 3.Nxe5 Qf6 4.Nc4! The Leonhardt Variation 4... fxe4 5.Nc3 Qf7!
( The only move, 5..Qg6 and 5..Qe6 are terrible for Black). 6.Ne3 c6 7.d3! (better than positional 7.Nxe4) 7..exd3 8.Bxd3 d5 9.0-0 Bc5 and 10.b4! (S.James and M.Rosenstielke) is a hard knock for the Latvian ( by the way, also 10.Ng4!? of Mercadal-Melchor, corr. Spain Cup,1987 is notorious !?)
The prophets of doom cite this line as the end of the road for the Latvian
For their kind information I would like to point out that the LG experts are currently trying the relatively unexplored line 6..d5!? (?!). IM's I. Oren and I. Budovksis have drawn some games in easy way, even I myself had not win as White vs. a french player.
There are a couple ones of new improvements in the Latvian, one of them incredible, but this is a secret ....!?
Next time I will respond to the points on Philidor Countergambit raised by other aficionados "guided by voices" (and the trasposition in Latvian with 3..d6 move)
Alejandro Melchor, Barcelona, Spain