Thank you, Craig, for your information regarding the variation ("12.Rh3 is in the line (5...g6) 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.O-O O-O 8.Qe1 Nc6 9.Qh4 Bg4! 10.Be3 Bxf3 11.Rxf3 e5.")
Glenn Snow wrote on 07/16/11 at 21:25:31:
Glenn Snow wrote on 07/11/11 at 06:36:30:
I don't have the aforementioned yearbook unfortunately but I do have Christoph's book.
After 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bf4 Bg7 7.Qd2, the idea of delaying castling has been discussed. There are of course a few possibilities but one that others thought might be strong was the Pirc like 7...c6!?. I think White is at least OK here. 8.0-0-0 b5 (8...Qa5 9.Kb1 this position is a good illustration of how difficult it is for Black to avoid castling for long which I think is his best move here. 9...b5?? loses to 10.Nxb5; 9...Be6 10.Ng5; 9...h6?! to prepare ...Be6 allows 10.Bc4 of course.) 9.Kb1 b4 10.Na4 Nbd7 (Once again I think Black should just castle with an interesting game. 10...Qa5 11.Nc5; 10...Nd5 11.Bh6) 11.Qxb4 (11.Bc4!? =) Nd5 12.Qd2 Nxf4 13.Qxf4 looks about equal to me. Delaying ...Bg7 could be tried too but I don't think that helps any. Often if Black is acting quickly on the queen-side White can castle king-side with decent compensation.
1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bf4 Bg7 7.Qd2 0-0(!) 8.0-0-0 the move that bothered me was 8...Bf5. After 9.h3 I thought Black had a strong move in 9...Ne4 but now I'm doubtful. 10.Nxe4 Bxe4 11.Ng5 Bd5 12.c4 I was under the impression that 12...h6 (12...Bc6 13.d5 Bd7 14.g4 unclear) was strong. But after 13.Nf3 Bxf3 (13...g5 14.Be3) 14.gxf3 h5 (14...Nc6 15.d5 appears to offer White good compensation) My computer tells me Black is still better here but I'm curious as to what others think. I'd also like to know if anyone has a better idea for White against 9...Ne4 or if perhaps White should prefer something besides 9.h3.
Looking at this some more lately and am starting to agree more with the computer. After 14...h5, Houdini gives a few moves but one which isn't in it's top three is 15.Qe3!?. I've been looking at this with the idea of following up with Rh2 in most cases and White has some chances although I doubt full compensation.
Would 12. h4 (instead of 12.c4; highlighted above) be playable? A possible variation: 12...h6 13.Nh3 h5 14.Be5 Nd7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Bd3 c6 (16...e5, about =) 17. Rhe1 e5 (not 17...Bxa2?! 18.b3 followed by 19.Qg5; 17...b5 18.Qg5) 18.dxe5 Qxh4 19.Nf4 Nc5 20.Qe3 Qe7 21.e6 or similar ideas; White has full compensation.
In
Kaissiber #8 (1998), p. 48, I criticized 6.Bc4?, instead advocating (p. 51) 6.Bf4 Bg7 7.Qd2 0-0 8.0-0-0. Here I didn't consider 8...Bf5. Still, I like White's position. After the renaissance of Albin's CG with some fine books on the topic, these positions appear sufficiently promising to me. It is a lasting, asymmetrical structure, to achieve pawn breaks costs Black a lot of time, and h2-h4 follows soon enough.
If a specific treatment of the g6 Bogol-Variation seemed in fact dangerous for White, I'd gladly ask Gutman again to find a solution, as in the O'Kelly-Variation c6. It was a very weird experience: he found in an hour what I hadn't seen in two weeks. But for the moment White seems fine here, right?