MNb wrote on 02/01/07 at 20:38:25:
@ Markovich: Isn't Black at least OK after 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 (6.f3 d5 is the 4.f3 system) Nc6 or b6 ? There have been some Jussupow-Karpov games in the past.
@Martin C: Euwe-Colle, Amsterdam 1928, went 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 0-0 6.Qc2 d5. I have also found games by Yanofsky, Lilienthal and Pachman - not exactly nobody. But they all only played it once. I suppose one idea is to play Bg5.
Well, a lot of people would say that Black is more than O.K. in several lines against 4. a3. But in practice life is not always so easy. If memory serves, the latest idea for White is to deviate from Yusupov-Kasparov (after 5...c5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bd3 0-0 8. Ne2 b6 9. e4 Ne8 10. 0-0 Ba6 11. f4 f5 -- I hope I have all that right) with 12. d5 Na5 13. e5, followed soon by d6. White lets go of his c-pawn but makes it difficult for Black to coordinate his pieces. This seems like a promising idea. In some lines I looked at, White invades Black's queenside. That's a switch, for the Saemisch.
In many lines of the Saemisch, the c-pawn simply has to go. Once the doubled c-pawns are on the board, the c4 pawn is pretty worthless anyway, its main purpose being to exchange itself if Black tries ...d5.
As for Martin's question, the queen on c2 is not very useful in these Saemisch positions. White, already behind in development, needs every tempo he can get to mobilize his big center before Black blockades him all to blazes (as Karpov did to Yusupov).
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Saemisch Variation (Read 53990 times)
