Quote:


According to GM Miezis the problem is if black plays completely symmetrical against the botvinnik, so e5+c5 against c4+e4. Thats why he normally does not play 5.e4 if black played symmetrical the first 4 moves.

You might consider 5.Nf3 as Nf6 6.0-0 (or 6.d4 at once) 0-0 7.d4 is a good way to break the symmetry.

CrushingAttack wrote on 06/28/08 at 09:48:03:

This is very true, but applies to the 5 a3 line as well, of course, and the only time I played 5...a6 as Black I got horribly crushed ...!

Hello everybody,


after employing 1.d4 main lines for several years, I finally found interest in my old "English" repertoire again. Based on Tony Kosten's great book "The Dynamic English" I have been looking at the lines for quite a while now. While all of them are still playable, I have been unable to find an advantage in the pure Symmetrical after 1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.a3, where both 5...a6 and 5...d6 are very good replies after some minor improvements for Black (and the gambit lines after 5...e6 6.b4!? also appear slightly shaky to me).
Thus, I thought it might be a good idea to take a closer look at 5.e4 (usually associated with Botvinnik) as it simultaneously gives a possible solution to the King's Indian lines, since I also don't fully believe in the extravagant Bg5 stuff as proposed by Kosten...
Certainly White may not be able to gain any real advantage after 1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.e4 (allowing both 5...c5 and 5...e5), but he may well have the better understanding of the ensuing middlegame.
For a start, I thought it may be a good idea to study some high-class games, which may also reveal the subleties of the above-mentioned variations.
I'm surely not the first one to do that so I thought that maybe some of you could give me some recommendations for games worth looking at.
(While I have already been searching for games in my CB MegaBase, the mass makes it difficult to figure out which are worth looking at...)


Thanks in advance for replies,  
CrushingAttack

P.S.: If it matters, my playing strenght is ~ 2200 ELO.