Why you don't like 7...a5? Is due a specific variation?

Psycho-Cowboy wrote on 01/29/10 at 09:57:27:


I would like to use the opportunity to say that I learned a lot about the Classical Dutch by studying the book. The fun is that I learned the most by finding out where I disagree!

Hi all. Been trying to answer some questions this morning!
First of all I must say sorry to Tony R for not responding to his earlier e-mails. I sometimes get bogged down with work and I get rather lazy in my e-mail answering. Tony R does have some very interesting ideas and they are well worth looking at. Sorry Tony  .
I have commented on my DVD in another post, just quickly,  I recommended the 'solid' 8 Nxe4! fxe4 9 Nd2 d5 10 f3 exf3 and also I gave 10...c5!? but I am not sure either of these give equality.
At the European Team Championships I was looking at this line with Stephen Gordon GM, who thought that 10 f3 Nc6!? (this was my original intention) 11 fxe4 Rxf1+ 12 Nxf1! (I believe that this is the only way White can aim to get an advantage, 12 Qxf1 Nxd4 is fine for Black I had this 4 years ago and got a winning position against a GM) 12...dxc4 13 Be3! (13 e3 e5!) I believe that this is a critical position for the evaluation of the whole 7...Ne4 opening.
And now 13...Bd7!? was Stephens suggestion and he thought that Black might be fine. It does not look a lot worse for Black but maybe White has some edge due to his strong centre.
Anyway a interesting and new idea.
To answer other questions about my original book, 'Play the Classical Dutch', you have to remember that this was written a while back now and a lot of the material at the time was new and unique, time has moved on and obvious some of this new ideas have been out dated but you get that in all walks of chess.
I will try to answer any other questions in the thread about my DVD.

Ok cheers: Simon Williams 
www.gingergm.com

Ametanoitos wrote on 01/27/10 at 10:18:27:


On Ametanoitos' request I compared the lines mentioned here with Simon Williams' new "Killer Dutch" DVD. I thought it best to post here, to keep the analysis in one place.

For more info on the DVD, which is a great introduction to the Classical Dutch, see
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1264112391/all

After 7...Ne4 8.Nxe4 fxe4 9.Nd2 d5 10.f3 a line mentioned by TonyRo here is recommended as a safe option for Black: 10...exf3 11. Nxf3 Nc6 12. Be3 Bd7 (intending to improve on 12...b6). But no mention of Pinski's further 13.cxd5 exd5 14.Qb3!, or of 12.b3. So in this line you are already ahead of the DVD.

A sharper alternative is given in 10...c5 (I haven't seen this discussed anywhere) 11.fxe4 Rxf1+ 12.Qxf1+ dxe4 13.dxc5 Qd4+ 14.Kh1 Bd7.

I looked at this briefly with Rybka, which thinks White is clearly better in lines like

15.Nxe4 Bc6 (the point of ...Bd7, but now White has) 16. Bg5! Bxe4 17. Bxe7 Bxg2+ 18. Kxg2 Nc6 19. Bd6 Qxc4 20. Qf3! intending Rf1.

Or 15.Nxe4 Na6 16. e3 Qe5 17. Bd2 Rf8 18. Qd1 Nxc5 19. Bc3 Qc7 20. Qd4.

After both 10...c5 and 10...exf3 Williams admits that White may be slightly better.

I see the point behind 12.b3 Bd7!? Black wants to do something like Be8-Bf6-Bg6-Qe7-Rae8 and maybe Nd8-c6-Nf7 with e5 to come. But i cannot understand 12.Be3 Na5. After 13.Ne5 what is the point of Black's play?

Someone mentioned that Pinski gave 12.b3 b6!? which seems nice. What does Pinski say about 12.Be3?

I analysed with Rybka 12.Be3 dxc4 which seems unclear. F.e 13.Rc1 Bd7 14.Rxc4 Be8 seems OK and the critical line 13.Qa4 Nb4! with the idea Bd7! and if 14.Ne5 a6!

Don't be silly. Of course 10.e3 is not a glaring mistake. It's just less forcing than 10.f3, so Black probably can afford 10.e3 c5. I would not be surprised as this equalized immediately. Black still better knows what (s)he is doing, but after all, it's the Dutch defence.

I want to give an end to the hopes of White getting something better than an "unclear small advantage" after 1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Nxe4! fxe4 9.Nd2 d5 10.f3 e3! 11.Nb1 dxc4 12.Be3 and now not Bf6 because we want to discourouge the Cox's idea of Na3 but 12...Nc6! now if Na3 c3! is coming, so Black plays Qd7, Rd8 first and if Nd2 he takes Nxd4.

More troublesome is 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.Qxc3 and now i like Rybka's suggestion of 9...Bf6 10.b4 a5! 11.b5 (or 11.a3) 11...b6!