ayen wrote on 10/26/09 at 09:51:19:


I have struggled with the same variation and have 2 ideas for slightly off-beat, but still viable variations. One was birefly covered by Rowson in an earlier update. It is the line with 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nc7 7.a3!?
Here I think that black should not play 7...e5 (8.b4) but rather 7...g6. 
The second line I've looked at is the uncommon 7.0-0 e5 8.Ne1!?
The idea is to play Nd3 and f4 and then recapture on f4 with the knight. there is an old model game which you can find in your bases between Cramling (not Pia, but her older brother) and Lengyel from the early 80s. My impression is that if black plays standrad moved here it will be very difficult to equalize. Maybe the best for black is 8...Bg4 to be able to answer 9.Nd3? with 9...Qxd3! Various ideas with h7-h5 is also interesting for black. Still this could very well take black out of his/her comfort-zone early in the game. Just as in the lines where white plays d3 and Nd2 The capture Bxc6+ is probably a very real positional threat after 8.Ne1 after somthing like 8...Be7.
These are just ideas I have been toying with, but they could work very well in OTB chess.

In addition: 5.d4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 is the Grünfeld-Indian. While 5.e4 certainly is interesting (but maybe not so much after 5...Nxc3) White also may play the innocent looking 5.e3, when Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 7.Bb5+ (or 7.h4 or 7.Qa4+) is not a GID. 5.e3 e6 6.d4 Be7 definitely is a Semi-Tarrasch though.
Of course this means that White will have to add 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 to his/her repertoire as well (4.g3 d5 again).

I was having a bad time agains the Rubenstein variation in the English Opening, I am wondering if my experience is really common to all English Opening Players.   I am also soliciting for your advice on how to avoid this line against black.