chk wrote on 02/10/07 at 13:10:31:


Agaisnt 9...Bc5! White really must seek to open more lines as quickly as possible as Black has already begun to consolidate his extra pawn. Therefore White probably has to roll the dice with 10.b4!? and hope to make something of his lead in development.

Quite frankly I don't believe in the White position here, and I am not a big fan of having to burn ones boats so early in the game, especially with White. However if you are rather keen on this line and seeking inspiration, I would advise a close study of the Australian IM David Smerdon's games in this line. I think Smerdon plays this line exclusively against the French and has a good score with it.

Toppers  

Thanks notyetagm for the information....
I think book will be useful with an in-depth analysis of those uncommon lines.

I add some my own comments while guessing what is in the book..

Systems for White 
1   A Confounding Retreat (3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Bb4 5 e5 h6 6 Be3)     Mac Cutcheon - Janowski variation. Some games reference for the 6..Ne4 7.Qg4 g6 line:  Shirov-Brynell,Rethymon 2003; Klovan-Makarichev,URSS 1978 (ECO), Tsetlin-Shereshevsky URSS 1983 (MCO); Kovans-Shereshevsky,Solkovsky Mem 1978 (MnB in the forum) ; ZUalev-Shereshevsky,URSS 1977 (ECO and Suetin); Romanishin-Bronstein,URSS 1978 ; Naidjisch-Stellwagen,Corus 2006; Coleman-Lautier,London 1988 (Psakhis)

2   A Beginner’s Move? (3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 
   6 Bxe7 Qxe7 7 Qh5)     Classical Tarrasch

3   Down with the King! (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Qg4)    Winawer Advance Russian variation - games references:  Couso-Berg,Stockholm 2002 (NiC YB 66) ; **many** with the Spassky-Murey line (5..Ne7 6.dxc5) ; Batygin-Khasin,Leningrad 1954 (Estrin and chessmail, 5...Ne7 6.Bd2) and many others because 6.Bd2 transposes to many lines

4   Leaving the Unbeaten Path (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 exd5 exd5 5 Qf3) 
Exchange Tartakower-Larsen variation - after the Larsen's idea 5..Qe7! (Larsen's book: best games) i don't imagine what is the dangerous weapon

5   A World of Difference (3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5 
   6 c3 Nc6 7 Ndf3)    Tarrasch closed variation - for Black's players using here 7...Qb6 i can recommend here Watson's paper on Chesscafe commenting Tseitlin-Schultz,1992. I prefer 7...Qa5 or 7...cxd4 Smaguine-Glek,Odessa 1989. One interesting line is 7...cxd4!? 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nh3 (the idea of the dangerous weapon) Bb4+ (10...Bd6 Karpatchev-Starotsits,Leuterdosrk 2002, Psakhis Nd2) 11.Bd2 Qb6


6   Breaking the Chain (3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 
   6 Ngf3 Nc6 7 Nb3)  Tarrasch- Smagin's pet move. Malakhov-Volkov,european cup 2001

Systems for Black 
7 Swearing in Church (3 Nc3 Nc6)   Heecht-Reefschlaeger variation - used in famous games: Tal-Korchnoi, Fischer-Petrossian, look at updates on chesspulishing and after 4.e5 in Rozentalis's games

8   A Surprise in the Winawer (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 cxd4)   
Winawer Rauzer variation - Landa-Korobov,Halkidki 2002 but the line is dubious for Black despite Korobov interesting idea (Qe7)

9   Waiting and Outflanking (3 Nc3 h6)  A not uncommon weapon on chesspublishing. Read Chesspublishing,Jeroen Bosch paper in Nic 2004, Eingorgn or Bricard's games, recent game is Khosteniuk-Khoudgarian,world women championship 2006

  10   Two for the Price of One (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 Bf8; 
   3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Ng8)   Planet X (using Martens's identification of variation as stars-planets in the chess galaxy) ; maybe Khalifman last books is useful for uptodate variation

  11   A Leap of Faith (3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Nh6) Planet Mars (Martens) maybe last best Black player reaching the planet is Bareev, Grishuk-Bareev,2001 (chesspublishing). Maybe 5.Be3 Nh6 is more precise. Khalifman advices wait a little before playing Bxh6 and 6.Bd3 is maybe now a transposition (6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Nf5 8.Bxf5). For Black interesting game is Sveshnikov-Chernin,Sochi 1986 (Neven)

  12   What Can You Do to Me? (3 Nd2 h6) an improved version of the 4.Nc3 h6 system and interesting weapon. Transposition to kind of Korchnoi's gambit (with h6 ) may occured: 4.e5 c5 5.c3 (5.dxc5) Nc6 6.Ngf3 Qb6 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nf3 Bb4+ 11.Kf1

  13   One Rook Pawn Deserves Another (3 Nd2 a6)  Tarrasch and Kiriakov's pet move

  14   A Debasing Strategy? (3 Nd2 Nc6) Tarrasch Guimard variation - popular in 2006 among top chinese players Malakhov-Zhang Zong,Ergun 2006 (chesspublishing july 2006 update)

Here is one that would have been a good candidate for the book:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Nbd2!?

A Milner Barry with a twist, shaken not stirred.

Tops

Contents
          
          Preface 5
       Introduction  9
 
Systems for White
     1   A Confounding Retreat (3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Bb4 5 e5 h6 6 Be3)     12
     2   A Beginner’s Move? (3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7
          6 Bxe7 Qxe7 7 Qh5)     38
     3   Down with the King! (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Qg4)     58
     4   Leaving the Unbeaten Path (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 exd5 exd5 5 Qf3) 78
     5   A World of Difference (3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5
          6 c3 Nc6 7 Ndf3)     99
     6   Breaking the Chain (3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5
          6 Ngf3 Nc6 7 Nb3)   125
 
Systems for Black
     7 Swearing in Church (3 Nc3 Nc6)   143
     8   A Surprise in the Winawer (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 cxd4)   173
     9   Waiting and Outflanking (3 Nc3 h6) 189
      
   10   Two for the Price of One (3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 Bf8;
          3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Ng8)   204
   11   A Leap of Faith (3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Nh6) 224
   12   What Can You Do to Me? (3 Nd2 h6) 245
   13   One Rook Pawn Deserves Another (3 Nd2 a6)   270
   14   A Debasing Strategy? (3 Nd2 Nc6) 290