If you want good winning chances with Black against 1.e4 right now I'd recommend the Dragadorf.  I imagine it still has a lot of surprise value at club value and Black so far has scored very well when White has left out Bc4 (and he's done quite well against Bc4 methods too!).  There even seems to be a few valid methods of playing the defence (delayed castling, Nbd7 before b5, early ...h5).

The only possible practical problem I can think of is 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3, since Black usually delays moving his queen-knight or develops it to d7.  Black might have to play like Nadjorf players with 2...d6 or be comfortable with 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5.  Then again I think there is an thread here on the forum that argues that Black has good alternatives in the Accelerated Dragon to transposing to the main-line Dragon.(?)

parisestmagique wrote on 12/01/06 at 10:44:56:


Isn't the Modern just the Hyper-Hyper-Accelerated Dragon 

One expects a book for White to end its lines with +=.

Many suggestions have been made, and some of these "+=" positions are sufficiently complex that an assessment like that has little meaning beyond personal preference -- and if one doesn't want to play the positions which result from 9.0-0-0, perhaps a change of repertoire is in order.  MNb will suggest the accelerated dragon, Paris will complain about the bind, I will mention that I think Black is fine etc.  (Or, one can work out some new lines which one does find satisfactory.)

At the end of the day, it seems like this is what is troubling Paris -- it is not that Black lacks continuations, simply continuations which he finds suitable.

I don't have the new edition, and so if Golubev has some new lines which refute Black's traditional play, that is fine -- post what you think is problematic, and maybe someone who plays that line will have an answer.  But I suspect that this isn't really the case.

"Experts against the Sicilian" 2nd version is out and Black has still not found a attractive way of meeting 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.000 ! += Golubev ... Any new ideas ?

If black wants to play the Nxc3 variation he needs to improve on this game played today.
Since I play e5 instead of Nxc3 I haven’t analysed this game.
I am not sure if the rating is swedish rating or ELO rating, I took is from a live broadcast site.

[Event "Elitserien 06/07"]
[Site "Stockholm"]
[Date "2006.10.21"]
[White "GM Tom Wedberg, WASA SK."]
[Black "IM Rickard Winsnes, SS MANHEM."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2501"]
[BlackElo "2394"]
[PlyCount "83"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12.
Bd4 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bh6+ 14. Be3 Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 Qb6 16. Qxe7 Be6 17. Bd3 Bxa2 18.
h4 Rfe8 19. Qf6 Qe3+ 20. Rd2 Rad8 21. Qg5 Qxg5 22. hxg5 Bd5 23. Rdd1 Re5 24. f4
Re3 25. Bc4 Rg3 26. Bxd5 cxd5 27. Rd2 Rc8 28. Rxd5 Rxg2 29. Rd2 Rxd2 30. Kxd2
Kg7 31. b3 Rc7 32. c4 f6 33. Kc3 fxg5 34. fxg5 Rc5 35. b4 Rxg5 36. Ra1 Rg3+ 37.
Kd4 h5 38. Rxa7+ Kf6 39. Rh7 Rb3 40. Kc5 Kg5 41. b5 h4 42. b6 1-0

bragesjo wrote on 09/10/06 at 10:58:46:


Position after 22. Kb2.

http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=5rk1/p4p1p/1qp1b1p1/r7/8/...

In your line, after 22... Rb8 23.Rxe6 fxe6 24. Bc4 Rd5 25.Qe1, 25... Rxd1 seems to draw on the spot. Instead I think white can get some edge with either 25.Bxd5 cxd5 26.h4 or 25.Re1 Re8 26.Bxd5 (26.Re4) 26... cxd5 27.h4 Qf2 28. Ra1. 

Even better, instead of 24.Bc4, may be 24.Bxg6 Qc7 (24... Rd5 25.Bd3) 25.Be4 c5 26. Rd5 {better than 26.Qf6 which draws in the end when white loses the queenside pawns} 26... Qg7 (26... h6 27.Re5 Qg7 28.Bd3) 27.Qxg7 (27.Re5) 27... Kxg7 28.Rg5.

parisestmagique wrote on 09/11/06 at 10:14:20:


I suspect white can get an edge with instead 24.Be4 or 24.Re2. 

In general, I think black has three long term thematic problems in the position after 22.Kb2: The weak pawn on the a-file, the risk of Rxe6 when good, and white kingside expansion with h4-h5, inducing an extra weakness in black's camp. The question is if white can suppress black's counterplay against the white king to take advantage of this in the long term, and avoid exhanges that makes the position drawish.

I think the right way for black to go is placing the a5 rook on d5, which kind of forces matters. Question is if 22... Rc5 23.Qf6 should be inserted. My analysis suggest that 22...Rd5 is OK, but 22... Rc5 should also suffer:

22... Rc5 23.Qf6 Rd5 {instead of 23... Bd5} 24.Rxe6 (24.h4 c5 {may be a tiny bit better for white}) 24... fxe6 25.Qxe6+ Kh8 26.Bc4 Ra5 27.f4 Qc5 28.g4 g5 29.Rd7 gxf4 30.Rxh7+ Kxh7 31.Bd3+ Rf5 32.Bxf5+ Kg7, and anything but a draw seems unlikely.

parisestmagique wrote on 09/08/06 at 08:32:17:


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12.
Bd4 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bh6+ 14. Be3 Bxe3+ 15. Qxe3 Qb6 16. Qxe7 Be6 17. Qa3 Rad8 18.
Bd3 Rd5 19. Rhe1 Ra5 20. Qc3 Rxa2 21. b3 Ra5 22. Kb2 {Golubev and Rogozenko
thinks that white has the better endning, no more mores are given.} Rb8 {
then the thematical} 23. Rxe6 fxe6 24. Bc4 Rd5 25. Qe1 Kf7 26. Bxd5 cxd5 27.
Qe5 {Fritz thinks the position is 0.00 but that is Fritz} Rc8 28. Rd4 

Does someone knows what Golubev or other experts says about this line ? it looks very solid even if i presume that Black will not win a lot of games with it but has very good chance to hold :
6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxN 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 BxB+ 15.QxB Qb6 16.Qxe7 Be6 17.Qa3 Rad8 18.Bd3 Rd5 19.Rhe1 Ra5 20.Qc3 Rxa2 21.b3 Ra5 =