Juan Tica - Zilbermints, Ridgewood, New Jersey, 2011, went 1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nge7 4 Nc3 h6!

Here Tica used up 2 minutes of his time. Considering this was G/10 minutes, that is a lot of time! Apparently, he was unprepared for this improvement, which I first analysed in 1994! After the game, Tica told me that 4...h6! threw out his prepared line, 4...Ng6 5 Bg5 out the window.

5 Nd5 Nxd5 6 Qxd5 Qe7

Play now resembles the Englund Gambit, 1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 Nc6 3 Nf3 Qe7. Of course, the differences are quite obvious. Three extra moves have not been made by either player.

7 Bd2 g6 8 Bc3 Bg7 9 e3 

Here I should have played 9...b6! delaying Castling. The Qd5 will be a target for the Black pieces after 10...Bb7, 11...000. Instead, I played...

9...00 10 Bd3 

I managed to win the game much later in the endgame on time. The whole point is to demonstrate that 4...h6 avoids the pesky 4...Ng6 5 Bg5 Be7 6 Bxe7 Qxe7 7 Nd5 Qd8 line!

Gambit wrote on 12/16/10 at 01:40:38:


Why didn't you play 6...b6? After Bb7 and O-O-O the Qd5 stands bad. 

Well, my first experiments with the 4...h6 line on Internet Chess Club seem to yield decent results.
I will post a few games later. Here is one just to give you an idea:

1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nge7 4 Nc3 h6 5 e4 Ng6 6 Qd5 a6 7 Be3 Qe7 8 000 Ncxe5 9 Nxe5 Qxe5 10 Qd2 c6 11 f4 Qa5 12 e5 Bb4 13 Bd4 c5 14 Be3 Bxc3 15 Qxc3 Qxc3 16 bc3 b6 17 a4 a5 18 Bb5 Ra7 19 h4 Ne7 20 g4 Ba6 21 h5 Bxb5 22 ab5 00 23 Rd6 Rb7 24 Rhd1 Rd8 25 f5 Nc8 26 R6d5 Kf8 27 g5 Ne7 28 gxh6 Nd5 29 Nd5 Rh6 30 Bh6+ Kg8 31 Bg5 Re8
32 Bf6 Kh7  33 Kd2 Rg8 34 Ke3 a4 35 Kf4 a3 36 Rd1 a2 37 Ra1 Ra7 38 c4 Rg2 0-1,  beinai (2314 ICC) - Zilbermints (2351 ICC) 10.26.2010, 3-minute rated blitz game

I prefer 4...h6 too.  There was a previous thread which contained plenty of analysis of 4...h6, including some contributions of my own, but unfortunately I can't find it with the search function.

I recall concluding that Black had better practical chances than after 4...Ng6, but that objectively speaking the onus was always on Black to prove that the positions were += rather than +/-.

I think Black's only way to get play in this line is 10...c6! (to stop Nd5 and envisaging ...b5-b4) 11.Be2 (11.0-0-0 is riskier as it "castles into the attack") b5 12.a3 (else ...b4 is irritating for White) a5.  I don't think Black equalizes here, but Black does get decent counterplay on the queenside, so it's probably += rather than +/-.

Instead White could try 7.a3 Qxb2 8.Nd5 Kd8 and now, instead of heading into the complications after 9.e6 d6 10.exf7 (White may still stand better here, but Black has reasonable practical chances) White should just develop with 9.e4, with positions strongly reminiscent of those arising from 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Rb1 Qa3 8.Nd5 Ba5 9.Rb5 Bxd2+ 10.Qxd2 Kd8.  Black often wins a pawn on e5 or a3 but has to survive a strong attack on the king in the centre.  For example 9...Nce7 10.Bc4 Nxd5 11.Bxd5 Qc3+ 12.Kf1 Ke8 (12...Bxa3 13.Bxf7) and although Black is still in the game, White has good attacking chances.

In the 7.Qd2 Qxb2 8.Rb1 Qa3 line, the 9.Rb3 Qa5 10.Rb5 Qa3 11.Nd5 Qxa2 line leads to tremendous complications as discussed earlier in the thread, in which Black clearly has good practical chances, even if White objectively stands better.  White does have the alternative 9.Nd5!?, although Black seems to survive, e.g.  9...Qxa2 10.Rd1 Qb2 11.e4 (11.Nxc7+ Kd8 12.Nd5 Nb4 with counterplay) 11...Kd8 12.Be2 Bb4 13.Nxb4 Qxb4 14.c3 Qc5 15.0-0 and White has good compensation for the pawn, but I sense that Fritz 10's assessment of +1.50 for White may be somewhat over-optimistic.

Meanwhile, I think Stefan Bucker's analysis earlier in the thread confirms that Black is doing alright in the line 7.Rb1 Qa5 8.Qd5 Bb4! 9.Qxa5 Bxa5 with White's poor pawn structure offsetting the extra pawn.  All in all I think Black has reasonable chances after 4.Bf4 and that the real test of Black's opening line is 4.Nc3.

7...Qc5 is better but still insufficient after 8.e4 Nge5 9.Ne5 Ne5 10.Qd2 with a clear advantage for White.

That omits mention of 7. Qc1 (7...Qa5 8. a3), which is given in the aforementioned MCO-15 as much better for White.

Gambit wrote on 10/22/10 at 03:03:17:


6.c3 is far too passive. White should play 6.Nc3 Nce5 7.e4 or 7.Ne5 Ne5 8.e4, in both cases with an advantage for white.