I'd be interested to see TonyRo's analysis of 18...g4 (I agree and am impressed by that analysis, having spent some time trying to break it) tested in some serious games.  I'm going to look at 21. Na3 tonight (after 18...g4 19. Nb4 a6 20 Nc6 Qf8), but I do not at this point understand Black's enthusiasm for 18...a6, 19...a5, when the Nb5 being on b5 rather than c3 enables the immediate ...g4.

There are only half a million lines where Black tries to find waiting moves to let White play Nb5 so he can play ...g4 without preparation.

Hello. I am at Chalkidiki as a coach and i watch the games daily. Banikas has worked the line thoroughly and probably together with Kotronias (the Greek team captain) and it seems that they have found no problems for Black. By the way Banikas showed a nice idea for Black in his KID game against Vallejo! Check it!

Ametanoitos wrote on 03/11/08 at 22:54:01:


"GM Bannikas just played a game against Radjabov which featured 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2.

It continued: 11...Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.c5 g5 14.Rc1 Ng6 15.Nb5 Rf7 16.Ba5 b6 17.cd6 cd6 18.Be1 a6 19.Nc3 a5 20.Nb5 Bf8 21.Rc3 g4 22.Qc2 gf3 23.Bf3 Ng4 24.Bf2 Nh4 25.Bg4 Bg4 26.Bh4 Qh4 27.Ne1 Qh5 28.Nf3 and they agreed to a draw.

21 or 22.Bf2 may have been an improvement for white."

Smyslov posted this elsewhere.  Note that 13-14 Rc1 and c5 are swapped, but that the position is the same.  I will admit to suspicion of Bannikas' 18...a6 and 19...a5, but you can't argue with the results.  Note that the suggested 21-22. Bf2 is stronger with the a-pawn off a7.

Nice game. But I think black`s best is to decline white`s offers with 
15...Rf7 16. Ba5 b6 17. cxd6 cxd6 when I opine that white`s life isn`t as easy as this thread might have you believe.

By the way, welcome to the forum!

In the game Papageno cites I can't help but think black's 24...Rb7 isn't best. 24...Rg7 or 24...Nf6 to prepare ...g4 seems a better try for black, and I don't see how white's attack can get there before a very effective ...g4 comes. The white Pe4 is a sore point preventing white from playing fxg4, so black doesn't even need ...h5 to prepare ...g4.

Perhaps 24. Rc4 is better, since in the event of a black ...Nf6/...g4, the Pe4 would be protected in case of fxg4. It's also noteworthy that a Rc4 would keep the path clear for the b4/bxa5/Na7-c6/Qd2 targetting a5 idea that Papageno cites.

23. Qb3 Bd7 24. Rfc1 intending to sacrifice the exchange is also interesting, but more speculative.

On the subject of 13...Rf7 - white can play 14. c5 anyway with good compensation.

Thanks for pointing out the possibility of 14. c5. This leaves us with an interesting move order issue of 11. f3 vs. 11. Bd2, which e.g. is not being addressed in the very old KI books I own. My conclusion so far: Maybe leaving the knight on d7 does not really help Black and does not necessarily slow down the white play with c4-c5...

However, as the second player I would not be too much worried about this.
- If I like the old mainline, then after 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bd2 g5 13.Rc1 Ng6 14.c5 I can play Nf6 anyway.
- If I want to follow the Bologan repertoire, then I'd go for Kh8 in both move orders like this: 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 Kh8 or 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Kh8.
Right?

In the position TopNotch quoted after 14. c5, I have a survey done by Golubev/Glek in 2001 on it.

They attach an "!" to 14. c5, here's some of the analysis:

14. c5 dxc5!? [14...Nxc5 15. Nxc5 dxc5 16. Na4 b6 17. b4 with compensation, 14...Nf6 transposes to the normal main lines] 15. Nb5 Rf6 (15...a6 16. Na3 +/-) 16. Qb3 Kh8 17. Nxc5 c6 unclear.

Instead of 17...c6 black can do better with 17...Nxc5 18. Rxc5 c6 when he's at least equal. White has an interesting try in 15. Nb1!? intending 16. b4 with typical compensation in case of 15...b6, but 15...Rf6 snuffs it out.

They also cover some other 13th move options for black. The only move they seem to like besides 13...Ng6 is 13...Rf7!?, but admittedly they don't cover anything for white besides 14. Nb5 there.

kylemeister wrote on 04/22/10 at 04:01:58:


Good point, except for one thing, white can still play  c5 anyway and reach more or less the same position by transposition. For example:


Fridman,D (2661) - Polzin,R (2491) [E98]
Bundesliga 2009-10 Berlin GER (6), 13.12.2009


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bd2 g5 13.Rc1 Ng6 14.c5 Nf6 15.Nb5 Ne8 16.Ba5 b6 17.cxb6 axb6 18.Be1 Rxa2 19.Na3 h5 20.Qb3 Rxa3 21.Qxa3 Bd7 22.Nf2 Rf7 23.Qa6 Bf8 24.Bb5 g4 25.Bxd7 Qxd7 26.Rc3 Rg7 27.Kh1 Nh4 28.Qc4 Qe7 29.fxg4 hxg4 30.g3 Nf6 31.gxh4 g3 32.hxg3 fxg3 33.Ng4 g2+ 34.Kxg2 Nxg4 35.Bg3 Qe8 36.Rcf3 Be7 37.Qxc7 Kh7 38.Qxb6 Qh5 39.Qa7 Bf6 40.Qa3 Bxh4 41.Rh1 Nh6 42.Rh3 Qg4 43.Qxd6 Qxe4 44.Rxh4 Qxh4 45.Qxe5 Qb4 46.Qc3 Qb7 47.Qc2+ Kg8 48.Qb3 Qd7 49.d6+ Nf7 50.Qd5 Kh7 51.Kf2 Ng5 52.Qf5+ Kg8 53.Qf8+ Kh7 54.Qf5+ Kg8 55.Qxd7 Rxd7 56.Re3 Rb7 57.Ke1 Kf8 58.Kd1 Nf7 59.Kc2 Rd7 60.b4 Nxd6 61.Bxd6+ Rxd6 62.Kb3 1-0

Accepting the pawn sac after 14.c5 in the above position is rare, but perhaps it deserves more serious study. Here is one practical example from a Correspondence game:

Gatto,C (2164) - Bohak,J (2273) [E99]
WS M/103 email ICCF email, 18.05.2007


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.f3 f5 11.Nd3 f4 12.Bd2 g5 13.Rc1 Ng6 14.c5 Nxc5 15.Nxc5 dxc5 16.Na4 b6 17.b4 cxb4 18.Bxb4 Rf6 19.Qb3 Kh8 20.Rc2 Bd7 21.Rfc1 Qe8 22.Nc3 Nh4 23.a4 a5 24.Ba3 g4 25.Nb5 gxf3 26.Bxf3 c5 27.dxc6 Bxc6 28.Nc7 Qg8 29.Qxg8+ Rxg8 30.Rxc6 Nxf3+ 31.gxf3 Bf8+ 32.Kf1 Bxa3 33.Rxf6 Bxc1 34.Nd5 Ba3 35.Rxb6 Bc5 36.Rb7 Rg7 37.Rb5 Rg1+ 38.Ke2 Rg2+ 39.Kd3 Bg1 40.Rb7 Rg7 41.Rb8+ Rg8 42.Rxg8+ Kxg8 43.h3 Kf7 44.Kc4 Bf2 45.Kb5 Be1 46.Nb6 h5 47.Nc4 Kf6 48.Nxa5 Kg5 49.Nc6 Kh4 50.Nxe5 Kxh3 51.Nd3 1-0

Toppy