After 10...Nxd4, he gives one line: 11 cxd4 Re8 12 Bf3 Qf5 13 c4 d6 14 Re1, with some comment about White being better without needing to memorize only-moves.

Shaw gives 10 Nd4, arguing White is better without needing to know any forced lines.

Well said; 'and an improvement' are, I think, the operative words! Having foolishly found myself in this the other day by transposition (in a 4 ...Bb4 5 Nc3 Scotch I played ...Qe7 and daftly took the hot e-pawn) I'd say, steer very clear!

Hi to all,
A friend has just asked me to try and find something for him that would be of help in preparation for the weekend team match. (4..Qh4 with Black)
Any study in CBM or book etc?

MemoryMaster wrote on 12/09/09 at 15:22:51:

I am so often taken a back how such questions meet with the same reaction. All over the various areas of this forum a person dears to ask...”Is defence Y or attack Z alright as black or white?”. This sort of question normally elicits the same response. People run off to their libraries and or databases and with some rather false confidence and pride reproduce the rhetoric as exposed by Grandmaster Fred or Bob. The one question that does seem to escape everyone in this case is to ask, what level of chess are you playing to? Are you some FIDE master or Grandmaster so disparately down on your luck and fortune that you need to ask a forum of chess troglodytes for an opinion on whether Qh4 in the Scotch is playable or are you an ordinary chess playing plebe where the chances of anyone you face knowing any of the spouted refutations given by said chess troglodytes is slim to absolutely bugger all ? It is just not as simple as asking if defence X or Y works or not, chess openings are only as good as the person you play them against….If you are one of the ordinary chess playing plebes trying Qh4 against a good player and the said player does not know any of the refutations, as far as the opening is concerned your chances are equal. However I guess if you get pass the opening and lose your way in the middle game and endgame then that can’t be the fault of Qh4….Can it 
HTH

@Markovich

The variations I gave are just a starting point - my intuition tells me that White should be clearly better but my analysis suggests that White can only achieve a slight advantage. In the position after 15.Qa3, I think the computer underestimates White's initiative, but as I can't find a win for White, it's fair to say that White is only somewhat better.

As you stated earlier, even if Black holds with best play, the position is quite difficult for Black in practice and it is relatively easy for White to develop his initiative.

I don't have Gutman's book on this line so it will be interesting to see what he recommends against my suggestions and what his opinion is of this variation.

Schroeder wrote on 12/22/09 at 05:56:42:


11...d6 12.Rb1 (12.c4!? Bg4 13.Rb1 += is also promising) 12...Qd5!?N (12...Bd7 13.c4 Ne5 14.c5 Bc6 15.Bf1 +/- is very strong; 12...Re7 13.Bf3 Qc4 14.Nd6! +/- gives White a massive attack) 13.Qc1 a6 14.c4 Qe5 15.Qa3 +=, due to Black's vulnerable king and White's significant lead in development.