Nice!

kylemeister wrote on 07/20/10 at 14:43:43:

Looking at that game, the idea looks quite nice.

Funnily Topalov tried 15...Nc8 16.Qd3 Re7 versus Aronian in Linares this year. I did look at that game and felt that Topalov was always somewhat worse, but perhaps I need to look at it again. However that seems to make a whole lot less sense at first glance than Porat-Maslak, where black had played 15...Qc7 16.Re1 Re7 and still had the eighth rank free for the move Ra8-e8.

By the way, I meant to ask for a while, does anyone have any suggestions on how to deviate against / improve over (for black - although I mostly seem to find things for white) Avrukh's
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Nd2 a6 11. a4 Nbd7 12. h3 Rb8 13. Nc4 Nb6 14. Na3 Bd7 15. e4 line? His proposed set-up looks pretty depressing for black.

I always used to love to play this Nb8-d7-b6-c8 line as black due to the wonderfully clear plans that black has, which often leave white players spending agest to try to find something, while my play is very easy to execute.

Analyzing in the line where he intersects with Watson, I have:
15. e4 Qc7 16. Re1 Nc8 17. Qd3 Na7 18. Nc4

18...b5
One slightly strange line might be 18... Nc8 19. a5 Bb5 20. b3 Nd7 21. f4 b6 22. axb6 Ndxb6 23. Be3
Nd7 24. Ra3 Bxc4 25. bxc4 Rb4 26. Rxa6 Qb7 27. Ra2 Ncb6 28. e5 Nxc4 29. Bf2 f5, which looks pretty strange and is probably not very good for black.
19. axb5 Nxb5 20. Bd2 or also Bf4 20... Nxc3 21. Bxc3 Bb5 22. b3 22. e5 dxe5 23. d6 Qd7 24. Bxe5 Nh5 25. Bxg7 Nxg7 26. Rxe8+ Nxe8 27. Rd1 Rd8 28. Qc3 might also be quite good.

22... Nd7 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qc3+ Once more a possible alternative for white: 24. f4 Kg8 25. Qc3 Bxc4 26. bxc4 Rb6 27.Rec1 Reb8 28. Ra3 Re8 29. Re1. 24... Kg8 is what Avrukh took from Cernousek - Terekhov, but perhaps here I have - for once - a very minor improvement for black 24... f6 25. Na5 Ne5 26. Re3 Nf7 27. f4 Re7 28. Bf3, which probably still leaves white a bit better.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, this is probably still quite playable in a practical game at my level, but it is psychologically unpleasant to not have any new ideas against his proposals

[Event "TCh-ISR 2008-9"]
[Date "2008.12.12"]
[White "Porat I"]
[Black "Nabaty T"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2363"]
[BlackElo "2456"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.g3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 O-O 9.O-O a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Nd2 Re8 12.h3 Nh5 13.Nce4 Ne5 14.f4 f5 15.fxe5 fxe4 16.e6 Nxg3 17.Rf7 Bd4+ 18.Kh2 Bxe6 19.dxe6 Rxe6 20.Rxb7 Qh4 21.Nc4 Nf5 22.e3 Qg3+ 23.Kh1 Nh4 24.Qg4 Qe1+ 25.Kh2 Qf2 26.Qxe6+ Kh8 27.Qxe4 Rf8 28.exd4 Nf3+ 29.Qxf3 Rxf3 30.Bh6 1-0

However, it appears that 20...d5 leaves Black with sufficient comp.

But I looked at TalJechin's line and it seems to me that White has play that never goes away after, for example, 18...Nd3 19.Qc1.

In his book "Grandmaster Repertoire 1.d4 - Volume 2", Boris Avrukh recommends the line

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.g3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.a4 Re8 11.Nd2 a6 12.h3 Nh5 13.Nce4 

for White in the Modern Benoni.

But in this position, Avrukh only gives

13...Ndf6 14.Nxf6 Nxf6 (Qxf6) 

for Black, and a few moves later he sees some advantage for white.

I wonder what Avrukh has in mind against 13...Ne5, when 14.f4 is answered by 14...f5!.

Has anyone an idea how white could try to play for an advantage after 13...Ne5?