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I couldn't agree more, gentlemen.


I first became aware of this kind of move after my quest to find something against the Lopez myself, maybe a rare sideline I told myself. So I found an article (on Silman's site) that I think (not sure) orginally apperared in Chess Monthly by Andrew Martin called " The 'If It's Good Enough For Capa' Variation."

The subject of the article is Qf6 after black plays Bc5, but after a cursory examination I found the same recipe for advantage...white aims to play d4 and embarass black's congested pieces with his overwhelming space advantage. This demonstrates two things:

1) Stats might not be everything, but they do matter in as far as they represent an opening's results.

2) Just because a high profile name is attached to it doesn't mean it's good.

Methinks there's a good reason that the results after 3...Qf6 favor White.  And there's also good reason that White's rating seems to be higher than Black's...

I think 3...Qf6 should be looked at more carefully. I believe this setup is due for some serious analysis.

Depending on the year of your chess database, I've found an average of nearly 300 games with this position. This means it's worth a look. However my quick scanning of the game results show White is doing very well but I think this result is misleading. Most of the games are won with White but the rating strength of Black isn't that high.

If more games with levels higher than 2500 could be factored in for Black the results might look different. Without a doubt this can be considered a surprise weapon...but don't use this unless you do opening preparation beforehand.

Certainly White's big weapons include 4. d3 with the theat of Bg5 attacking the Black queen on f6. Then there's 4. Nc3 with the threat of Nd5 again attacking the Black queen on f6. Both these moves  can easily be countered by Black using h6 and Ngd7. The only question is how to develop the bishops as there's still a pawn on d7 blocking the light squared bishop on c8 and the knight move suggested blocks the dark squared bishop on f8. The big plus for Qf6 is this move anticipates White heading toward the Exchange variation with Bxc6 and Black recaptures with the Queen.

However, if White decides to challenge this setup by going ahead with the Bxc6 line...be very prepared for some wild fights. Here's one such doozy:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Qf6 4. Bxc6 Qxc6 5. Nxe5 Qxe4+ 6. Qe2 Qxg2 7. Nf3+
Be7 8. Rg1 Qh3 9. Rxg7 d5 10. d4 Bd7 11. Nc3 Qe6 *

This line is completely out of book and this will force White to think concretely at a very early stage.

There is already a thread on this topic which I linked to above. Why not use that thread instead.

Hi,
perhaps the ´New Archangel`is a good opening for you! (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bc5!?) It is an agressive answer with very active pieces for black- Shirov and others are playing it actually- so ...... !

greetings!

wolfsblut

Try to continue this thread instead: http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1176224268

I am a very aggressive player and usually play openings where my pieces come out very quickly, for example I play the chigorin against 1.d4, the morra gambit against the sicilian, the milner Berry against the french, and the goring gambit against 1...e5.

What should I play as black against 1.e4. I have tried my hand a the pirc/modern, but not to my style for the pieces dont develop quickly enough to natural squares or usual squares.  I have also played quite a few sicillians, but  once again same problem.

So 1...e5 seems to be the answer.  But what do I play against the spanish 3.Bb5?  I looked at the statistics for the open variation on chessgames.com and was horrified plus in the main line it looks like black sacks a piece unwillingly for questionable compensation. 

what is the latest word on the marshall gambit?  What about the zaitsev variation?  those are both sharp, but I am seeing less and less of those on the GM level, so is there something wrong with them?