zenken wrote on 08/01/06 at 13:43:26:
I can't agree with your assessment of 3...h5!? surely 3...h5 should be ?!
You may be right, but no one's come up with anything decisive as yet.
Quote:After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ( better 2.Nf3!) exf4 3.Nf3 h5?! ( in my opinion) white gets a very nice game after 4.Bc4 with the idea if 4...g5?! 5.0-0 h4?! 6.h3! and white has an enormous positional advantage.
So how do you respond to 4.Bc4 ?
4 Bc4 g5?! gets hit by 5 h4, so Black has to play 4...h4!. Then 5 0-0 g5 6 h3 would reach your position (though I'd probably play 5...d6 first).
Well OK, White certainly has compensation for the pawn. I don't know about "an enormous positional advantage" though. What's your plan as White from this position?
Also, 6 h3 doesn't deserve "!" since Black is not going to play ...h3 any time soon. The desired structure is h4/g5/f4, pre-empting White's h2-h4, and once h3 has been played there's no break with g3 either.
That's not to say 6 h3 is a bad move: it takes g4 away from the c8-bishop which can then struggle to find a square. Then again, there's no real hurry to develop the bishop if White can't break through in the centre (try and get past Black's d6/c6 formation), while h3 may prove a useful hook for a later ...g4.
Quote:Another question : who was Wagenbach ?
János Wagenbach is a friend at Mansfield Chess Club. He came up with 3...h5 in a blitz game and it was such a silly idea that we got interested in trying to defend it as Black.