Markovich wrote on 03/25/10 at 13:13:54:
Markovich wrote on 08/17/09 at 12:45:23:
Returning to the original topic, I think that Palliser's Modern Benoni Revealed is an outstanding book. I have some issues with mode of organization of the "Revealed" series, but notwithstanding that, Palliser's book is quite readable and jammed with useful information. Also Palliser is an avid practitioner of the Modern Benoni and as such, dishes out a lot of useful practical advice.
Having said that, I would like to call attention to a small error in this book. Against 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3, Palliser advocates 2...c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6.Qxd5 d6 "!" and remarks that after 7.Ng5 (7.e4 is more usual) 7...Qf6 Black is good in the complications that follow. But Black is by no means good after 8.Nxh7!, which just wins a pawn. There is a GM game from the 90s (sorry, I forget who the players were) that continued 8...Qf5 9.Qxf5 Bxf5 10.Nxf8 and now with 10...Nc6?! Black pretended that he had comp. White allowed himself to be bluffed and played 10.c3. But 10.Bf4! would have left Black even worse off than if he'd played 10...Kxf8. So much for 7...Qf6!
If Black's previous play can be justified, it must be by means of 7...Qe7. However this doesn't look too terribly bad for Black, So I think that 3...e6 may hold up. Black also has 3...b5!?, of course, but I would think that a Modern Benoni player might prefer 3...e6 with its invitation to "forgive and forget" after 4.c4.
Last of all, as pointed out by Palliser, Black can fall back on 2...e6. This is unobjectionable, but it does require him to prepare for the Torre and the London.
More on this subject. I've looked some more at 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.Nxd5 Nxd5 6.Qxd5 d6 7.Ng5 Qe7, and I really don't like Black's game after 8.Bf4 Be6 9.Nxe6 fxe6 10.Qh5+. E.g. 10...g6 11.Qg4 appears to be "w" in my parlance (
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1266527927) . So my provisional conclusion is that 4...exd5 is no good.
However 4...b5 looks quite interesting. We discussed this briefly before, though I have been unable to locate the thread. I recall saying that 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.Nxb5 d5 7.Nc3 looked strong to me, intending soon e2-e4. But more recently I noticed 7...Be7 8.e4 d4! 9.e5 dxc3 10.exf3 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Bxf6 and Black seems to be O.K. To take advantage of 7...Be7 it would seem that White has to refrain from 8.e4.
I've looked further at this, and I've concluded that after 11...Bxf6, Black confronts a dreary endgame after 12.Rb1! (as opposed to 12.b3= as mentioned in the DW book, which I have since purchased). I can see nothing better for Black than 12...Bb7 13.bxc3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Bxc3+
15.Ke2! Nc6 16.Bh3, after which, whatever winning chances exist certainly belong to White. I am not enough of a technician to be very sure of the degree of Black's drawing chances, but I assume that they're fairly substantial. I find this line unappetizing for Black, but I might not feel that way if the draw were a mere matter of technique.
In general in chess opening theory, I think that Black can be satisfied with a draw that is readily accessible with fairly evident technique, but not with one over which he has to puzzle very hard.
Your "15.Ke2!" is 'drivel' of course. With the king already on d1 white has better moves, and should have good chances to play for the win.
It seems to me that ...d6 is the problem.
7.Bg5 Qb6 8.Ne5 Nxe5 9.Qxe5+ Qe6 seems to hold. So maybe 7.e4 is best 7...Be7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.Bf4 d6 10.0-0-0 and white has an edge obviously, but maybe black can get enough counter-play for the eventual loss of d6. At least there seems to be some tricks after 10...Be6 11.Qd3 Qb6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13.Bxd6 Nb4 etc