BabySnake wrote on 01/19/11 at 13:54:01:


That makes sense - putting a pawn on e6 and eventually unravelling after ...b5,...Bb7, getting in ...c5 at some point. Another system is ...g6. 
I've never really thought much of that system for White - it only works well when Black continues on auto-pilot.

The general rule of thumb in this line is to wait until ...Bf5 before playing d3, in order to blunt the f5-bishop's diagonal. I'm not familiar with the theory of 6...Bg4, but h3/g4 and Nf4 or d4/Bd2 both seem logical.

urusov wrote on 01/12/11 at 03:57:19:


I have always found this tricky to face as black. I wonder if GM Bauer covers it in his new book??

Also the Nigel Short line with 4.Bc4 5.d3is very tricky, and in fact he played it against me in a recent simul. Bauer definately covers this line... 

I'm in Gambit's camp on this one.  Having started to play the BDG against the Scandy in the last few months, my results have been better against the Scandy and I have more fun playing it!  I found some decent BDG databases/tactics puzzles online and have stored those in ChessBase to study.  Am waiting for the Everyman book on the BDG to come out this year!  Scandy players will hate me for saying this (but there's more than a grain of truth to it, I think), they play the Scandy to avoid study opening theory so best thing to do (at least at a patzer 1800 level like me) is to get them out of their book!  Of course, some of them do know a thing or 2 about the BDG, but it's still fun to play!

I think the suggestion of Nf3 is very good.  This line is very well covered by Kritz in CBM #128 
http://www.chessbase-shop.com/en/products/4230
You do have to be prepared for some hyper-aggressive Black responses that should lose against best play....but it is definitely a solid and often surprising system.

An interesting alternative approach to Black's typical e6 and c6 set-up is 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 (2...Nf6 is trickier, especially since you have to consider a later Qxd5 transposing) 3.Nc3 Qa5 (3...Qd6 is also quite popular) 4.Bc4 with the idea of d3, Nge2-g3, f4, Bd2, O-O, Qe2, Rae1 and eventually Ne4 or Pf5 depending on circumstances.  Perhaps 4...Nf6 5. Nge2 c6 6. O-O Bf5 7. d3 e6 8. Bd2! Qc7 (8... Bb4 9. a3) 9. Ng3 Bg6 10. f4 etc.  It is a very natural system and causes lots of trouble for Black's Bishop at f5 / g4.  You often get good play with an f5 advance, busting open the position.  A pretty good illustrative game (chosen at random) is:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1313939 

Unfortunately, I have not seen it well discussed in books, though Andrew Martin suggests it might be the most dangerous line at White's disposal.

Bauer is a repertoire book for black. Only covering Qa5 as far as i know.

I have bought Housaka and Emms book.

Waster wrote on 01/07/11 at 18:26:12:

I have the first edition. It doesn't have much explanation like you seem to need:

Waster wrote on 01/07/11 at 18:26:12:

I mean, I can give you a sharp repertoire based on harrassing the Queen and Queen's Bishop (after 3...Qa5) but that's not what you're asking for, is it?

Ametanoitos wrote on 01/07/11 at 22:06:58:


This is a repertoire for white. The name is 'Opening for white according to Anand vol. 3' You also get a repertoire against Caro-Kann. It's from 2004 but so is Emms's book.

Don't buy Plaskett's book. I tried to build a repertoire from it a few years ago but it didn't cover enough variations. It was also mentioned in a thread on worst chess books ever (or something like that) on this forum.