Quote:Meanwhile could someone briefly tell me the theoretical state of 4 e5? I guess 4 ...b6 is OK, but while 4 ...Nge7 5 Nf3 Nf5 looks at least equal for Black in the line 6 Bb5!? Bd7 7 Bg5 f6!, I don't know what to think about 6 Ne2 -- I'm willing to be told that Black's all right after say 6 ...Be7 (is 6 ...f6 under a cloud or OK?) 7 Ng3 0-0 8 c3, but the position looks a little thankless to me and I don't really know how it should be handled. All help gratefully received!
I had a look at the game Negi - Rozentalis 2005 again. After
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e5 Nge7 5.Nf3 Nf5 6.Ne2 f6 7.Ng3 fxe5 8.dxe5 Rozentalis played
8...Bc5.
Here Neil McDonald mentions the interesting move
8...Nh4!?, directly attacking e5. He continues
9.Ng5 Nxe5 10.Qh5 Neg6 11.Nxh7 {with threats of Bd3 and Bg5}
11...e5 12.Bg5 Rxh7 13.Bxh4 Rxh5 14.Bxd8 Rh8 15.Bxc7 winning a pawn.
The position after 11.Nxh7 is interesting. I wondered about
11...Kf7!? threatening Kg8 to pick up the knight. So I fired up the silicon oracle (Rybka). She likes 11...e5 and 11...Qd6!?, but when pressed she came up with the following:
11. Nxh7 Kf7
a)
12.Bd3 Qe8!
a1) 13.Bxg6 Nxg6 14.Ng5 Kg8
a2) 13.Bg5 Kg8 14.Bxh4 Rxh7 15.Bxg6 Rxh5 16.Bxe8 Rxh4
a3) 13.Ne2 Kg8 14.Bxg6 Nxg6 15.Nf4 Rxh7 16.Qxg6 Bd7
b)
12. Bg5 Qd6! 13.Bxh4 Qb4 14.c3 Qxh4
b1) 15.Qxh4 Nxh4 16.Nxf8 Rxf8
b2) 15.Qf3 Qf4 16.Qxf4 Nxf4 17.Nxf8 Rxf8
c)
12.Ng5 Kg8 13.Qd1 Be7 and 14...e5
Which all look satisfactory for black. So is the ball back in White's court?