Once was enough

I wanted to "bump" this old thread to see how forum members are currently feeling about this line?  I have used it recently myself OTB and got fairly comfortable play although it was hard to win the full point.  I noticed in Megabase 2013 it appears to score well for Black and probably gives the added advantage that White players who will go so far as to allow the Winawer OTB (which is a shrinking number in my experience!) are less likely to be well prepared!  Compared to similar lines in the McCutcheon, Black has not weakened his kingside with ...h6 and his knight is well placed on e7.  The big question remains if Black can generate enough winning chances but for now it seems to give good practical chances to outplay your opponent.

For correspondence play, Mark, I can see that it might not be quite as appealing against computer aided opponents as a likely outcome would be a draw.

Thoughts?

Bill

As promised on page 1 the first of my two 7...Kf8 games.

Pérez Ferrís,Miguel - MNb

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Qd1 b6 9.Nf3 h6 10.a4 Ba6 11.Bxa6 Nxa6 12.0–0 Kg8 13.Qe2 14.Nh4 Kh7 15.f4 Ng6 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Ba3 Nc7 18.Qg4 Qd7 19.Bd6 Rhc8 20.Qh4 Rab8 21.Qe7 Qxe7 22.Bxe7 Rb7 23.g4 Ne8 24.Ba3 Rf7 25.Rf3 Rc6 26.Kg2 Nc7 27.Kg3 Kg8 28.Raf1 29.a5 a6 30.h4 Ne8 31.f5 exf5 32.gxf5 Nc7 33.Bd6 gxf5 34.Rxf5 Rxf5 35.Rxf5 Ne6 36.Kg4 Rc8 37.Kh5 Re8 38.Kg4 ½–½

As I already wrote I never felt in danger of losing, but found it impossible to create realistic winning chances.
All comments appreciated.

Well, 8.Bd2 Bd7 and Qe8 have been suggested in this thread. As I was not aware of these options yet when I decided to give 7...Kf8 a try I will give you what I intendend.

in Kamsky-Ivantsjuk 10...cxd4 is more precise than the immediate 10...Ba6. Kamsky's 11.dxc5 was already played in Timman-Nikolic, Pula 1997, where White also proved some advantage.

Psachis in his book on the Winawer has commented on the Leko-Nikolic game.

Yes, but i habe proposed 8.Qd1 Qa5 9.Bd2 cxd4! which is very logical for Black. What do you think of this? Also, i'd like to know what Khalifman thinks of 7...Kf8 because i don't have with me now the revelant volume of the Anand series.

Ametanoitos wrote on 05/10/10 at 22:58:38:


8.Bd2 Qe8!? (interesting indeed) 

9.Nf3 Qa4 10.c4 Qxc2 11.dxc5 Nbc6 12.Be2 Qe4 13.Qxe4 dxe4 14.Ng5 Nxe5 15.Nxe4 Bd7 16.oo Bc6 17.Nd6 Nd7 18.Be3 g6 19.Rfd1 Nf5 20.Nxf5 Gxf5 21.Rab1 Rg8 22.f3 Ke7 23.Kf2 Rad8 24.h3 e5 25.Kg1 f4 26.Bf2 Nb8 27.Bd3 h6 28.f6 Bh4 Baklan-Drozdovskij,Alushta 2001

or the safe transposition to the "old" line

9.h4 Qa4 10.Rh3 Videki-Vareille,Toulouse 1995 (McDonald)  or 10.Qd1 Svidler-Socko, internet 2004

***********

8.Bd2 Qc7 9.Bd3 c4 Ulfarsson-Johannesson,Reykjavik 2001 10.Be2 Qb6 11.Nf3 Qb2 and then

12.oo Qxc2  can White punish Black ?

or 

12.Rc1 Qxa3 Ulfarsson-Johannesson,Reykjavik 2001

***********

8.a4 Qc7 9.Nf3 b6 10.Ba3 and then

10..Ba6

11.Bd3 cxd4 12.Qxd4 Nc6 13.Nf4 Bxd3 14.cxd3 Kg8 Aschenbrenne-Eingorn,Graz 1998

or 

11.Bxa6 Nxa6 12.oo Kg8 13.c4 h5 14.Qg5 Djurhuus-Ostenstad,Norvege 2004

******

8.Qd1!?  Qa5 9.Bd2 Nbc6 10.Nf3 Qa4 11.Qb1 c4 12.h4 Ke8 13.h5 h6 Karjakin-Nikolic,Wijk aan Zee 2006

one idea is the variation can be entered with other moves hence 8.Bd2! Qa5 9.Qd1 Nbc6 10.Nf3 Qa4 11.Qb1

For White I like the 8.Qd1!? despite its ugly look (queen moved two times) because Black common plan is more difficult: 8..b6 9.h4! Mitkov-Lputian,Poikovsky 2001 and now

a) 9...Qc7 10.h5 h6 11.Nf3 Ba6 12.Bxa6 Nxa6 13.oo (the position I like for White) 

b) 9...Ba6 10.Bxa6Nxa6 11.h5 h6 (11...Qc7  12.h6 g6 13.Ne2 +=) 12.Nf3 

c) 9....Nbc6 10.h5!?

If you think my conclusion is correct, no.