alumbrado wrote on 10/19/06 at 17:39:54:


The book is quite good  typical of Gambit books,all the possibility have been investigate. But , for me, this recommendation is the biggest mistake.
After this move the black position is totally passive.
After that the main line in the book is:
9.Bd3 Nc3 10.bc3 Nd5 11.0-0 Qc3 12.Qe2 Bd6 13.Nd2 Qa5 14.Nc4 Qc7 15.Nd6+ Qd6 16.Bh4 0-0 17.Bg3 Qd7 and here instead 18.Rac1 i prefer Rfc1 with pression on the queenside and attack onthe kingside.
Glenn Flear have played the black side until move 16. so it will be interesting to know
what he think of all that.
the reason why k Panczyk and j Ilczuk don't trust in 8.Qd2 Bb4 is the line 9.Rc1 0-0
10.e4 (!? book)Nc3 11.bc3 Fa3 12. Rb1 e5 13.Bd3 ed4 14.cd4 Qd2+ 15.Nd2 Nb6 16.Rb3 (!? +/= book) but after simple moves as 16...Bd6 17.Nc4 Bc7 i don't see any problems!

Perhaps theoretically best line for Black is actually the endgame 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qd2 Bb4 9. Rc1 h6 10. Bh4 c5 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 b6 13. Bd3 Ba6 14. c4 Qxd2+ 15. Nxd2 N5f6 16. O-O O-O 17. Rfd1 Rac8 18. f3 (Illecas-LB Hansen Turin 06, another similar game is Grischuk-Dreev), but White tends to win at top level. A possible improvement for Black is to omit ...h6 (White does not have Bh4-f2 coming) e.g. 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qd2 Bb4 9. Rc1 b6 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 c5 12. c4 Qxd2+ 13. Nxd2 N5f6 14. Be2 Bb7 15. O-O O-O 16. Rfd1 Rac8 17. f3 Rfe8 18. Kf1 Ba6 19. Nb3 (Roiz-Kaidanov, BeerSheva 2005, 1/2-1/2), think this was covered in CBM. But I don't think it makes that much of a difference. Still there doesn't seem a good way for White to avoid this endgame, since the main alternative 14. O-O cxd4 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Qxd4 O-O 17. e4 Nf4 18. Qxd7 Ne2+ 19. Kh1 Nxc1 20. Rxc1 Qxa3 21. Qd2 Rac8 appears to be doing even better for Black.

Maybe the endgame is the tabiya both sides should play, since Black's other lines (e.g. playing for ...e5) also don't cut it.

I'm sure it's still sound, though don't forget that you'll also have to be prepared to play against the QGD Exchange variation after 6.cxd5.  White has committed his knight to f3, though.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you; I like the Meran and Anti-Meran lines for Black, but the Botvinnik stuff puts me off.  Basically, I find any line where I play ...dxc4, ...b5, ...h6, and ...g5 very hard to handle in a practical sense.  You could do what I used to: play the Noteboom!  After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 you have a sharp, interesting position where you haven't weakened your K-side like in the Botvinnik/Anti-Moscow.  You can still play the Meran after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.N(either)3 c6 4.e3 Nf6.