I am sorry, I never felt surprised by stuff like that. I just chose the same setup I preferred against the Pirc - usually Nc3, Be3, Qd2 and f3. And I suspect most players of the white pieces follow this logic - just play what you play against the Pirc.

trw wrote on 04/29/09 at 02:51:36:


If those e4 players are afraid of being thrown through that loop - like me - they simply refuse to play c2-c4. White has quite a few other options.

I was actually wondering on the possibility of transposing 1. e4 g6 towards a KID (certainly not tehoretically light  ) but definitely throws e4 players through a huge loop even if they know the theory.

Does not Black run the risk to be surprised after 6.Bc4 Bd7 7.Bb3 ? Then ...g6 8.f3 is a Jugoslav Attack and ...e6 8.Be3 a Velimirovic Attack again.
The last few weeks I have done a little work on the Sozin. One neat idea is 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Bb3 Bd7 followed by 9...Nxd4 and 10...Bc6. This is surprisingly hard to meet due to the pressure against pawn e4.
Of course there must be found something against the Richter-Rauser as well.

[quote author=nmga link=1240764494/15#15 date=1240822324]
@ kylemeister (or Stigma)
On 6 ...Bd7 7 0-0 g6, how should Black handle things after 8 Nc6? Is he OK?
[/quote]

It seems that 7. 0-0 g6 8. Nxc6 has long been considered "+=," whichever way Black recaptures.  I have the impression that perhaps 7...e6 is best and should lead to equality -- an apparently significant game I recall is Chandler-Rachels from the 1990 Manila Interzonal.  Of course Black has here, for one thing, avoided the Velimirovic.

Michael Ayton wrote on 04/27/09 at 08:52:04:

I can't say more on either on these lines I'm afraid; I have played both but rejected them for stylistic reasons and have not bothered to follow theory in them for years. I just noticed that Black still has good results in the databases. Though 6...Bd7 7.0-0 g6 8.Nxc6 does look a bit annoying.

Re the Ruy Lopez:
Isn't this a strange recommendation as a surprise weapon for Black under 2000? At that level people play the Italian, Scotch Gambit, Vienna etc. just as often as the Ruy. I think keeping up with all the Open Games is too much work to fit as a mere surprise weapon. If you play 1.e4 e5, it should be one of your main defences!

@ Stigma
You write:
[quote]Black is doing quite allright [in the Kalashnikov] with 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 Be7!?, i.e. 8.Nc4 b5 9.Ne3 Nf6 10.g3 0-0 11.Bg2 b4 12.Ncd5 Nxd5 13.Nxd5 Bg5. [/quote]
Thanks! -- I didn't know this. I see Pinski and Aagaard 2001 cover this on p. 142, and give 10 Ned5 Nd5 11 Nd5 (11 ed Nb8!) 0-0 12 a4 Rb8 =. Is 7 ...Be7 being seen as so reliable that increased emphasis is being thrown on 6 c4? -- I'd be interested to know more. I think we badly need a ChessPub update on these lines ...


@ kylemeister (or Stigma)
On 6 ...Bd7 7 0-0 g6, how should Black handle things after 8 Nc6? Is he OK?


PS. Obviously, my real recommendation would be 1 e4 Nc6!?, meeting 2 d4 with 2 ...e5 and 2 Nf3 with linksspringer's inspired 2 ...g6!, but then I'm hopelessly biased!