[Site "Lvov"]
[Date "2000.05.12"]
[White "Romanishin,Oleg M"]
[Black "Kortschnoj,Viktor"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.c4 Be7 6.Nc3 0-0 7.d5 Bb4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Na6 10.Nh4 Rb8 11.e4 d6 12.Be3 Re8 13.Re1 Nd7 14.f4 Nac5 15.Bf2 Ba6 16.Nf3 e5 17.f5 Bxc4 18.Re3 b5 19.g4 f6 20.h4 Rc8 21.Ne1 c6 22.dxc6 Rxc6 23.Nc2 Rc7 24.Rg3 Nb6 25.g5 fxg5 26.hxg5 d5 27.Bxc5 Rxc5 28.Qh5 Nd7 29.f6 d4 30.fxg7 Bf7 31.Qh3 Rxc3 32.Rxc3 dxc3
33.Qxc3 Qxg5 34.Ne3 Nf6 35.Rf1 Nxe4 36.Qa3 Ng3 37.Rf2 Qxg7 38.Qxa7 Rf8 39.Qb6 Qg5 40.Qa7 Be6 41.Nd5 Rxf2 42.Kxf2 Nh5 43.Qb8+ Kg7 44.Qxb5 Nf6 45.Qb7+ Kh6 46.Nxf6 Qxf6+ 47.Qf3 Qxf3+ 48.Kxf3 Bd5+ 49.Kg3 Bxa2 50.Be4 Bf7 51.Kg4 Bg6 52.Bb7 Kg7 53.Kg5 h6+ 54.Kg4 Kf6 55.Bc8 Bf5+ 0-1

This is a remarkable game.  14 f4 seems to be a critical move in White's plan.  Romanishin played 14 Nf3 Nac5 15 Qc2 Qf6 against Markowski at Biel in 1995, and got no advantage according to Yrjola & Tella.  But in a correspondence game played since Romanishin-Korchnoi (Patocka-Sferle, ICCF 2002), White played 14 Rb1 Nac5 15 f4 and managed to win.  I'll sit down with the game this afternoon to determine whether 14 Rb1 is necessarily an improvement, though it would appear to make sense to line up a rook on the b-file...

Ah.  Thank you.  I'd forgotten about the Aagaard book.  Is it worth buying if I already have the Emms and the Yrjola & Tella efforts?  I like Emms, but I'm not a big fan of the "Starting Out" series in general.

And I remember the Aagaard/Watson spat.  I thought Aagaard came on a little strong in his comments in Excelling in Chess, but had a point (and goodness knows Watson took his own argument in Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy to the brink), but then Watson, Silman, et al. went off the deep end in their criticisms.  All a bit amusing.  Aagaard's books could do without the attitude, but I don't find it too bothersome.  And often he's too the point and has the virtue of not pulling his punches, even if it's overdone.  Bg5 might be worth more consideration than "playing for nothing."

But back on track:

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 Be7 6 0-0 0-0 7 Nc3 Na6

What is White's best here?  Or would you prefer to back up a step first and examine 7 d5 ?  After 7 d5, 7 ... exd5 is probably the most common response, but it looks as though Black can still play 7 ... Na6 here...

Quote:


I wondered about the history of its reputation, too.  I presume you're talking about the Old Main Line in general rather than 7 ... Na6, which I don't think Karpov played.

Cheeky book?  Are you referring to John Emms's "Starting Out" book or some other?  Cheeky how?

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g2 Bb7 5 Bg2 Be7 6 0-0 0-0 7 Nc3 Na6!?

This is a Tiviakov-inspired move.  I know that the Old Main Line has a bad reputation for taking the air out of the game (at higher levels, anyway), but has anybody here had experience with 7 ... Na6 ?  It seems to have the advantage of being non-committal and a decent waiting move to see how White will proceed.  Yrjola and Tella don't offer much on this line, and a quick database search yields a fair number of games and a relatively limited number of draws compared with other variations of the Old Main Line.  Thoughts?