NeverGiveUp wrote on 02/14/11 at 14:50:57:
After having tried several options I'm still not sure what to do against 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5.
My preference has been the Fritz variation: 4. ... d5 5.ed5: Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 Nd5: but after 8.Ne4(!), 8. ... Qh4 is suspect after 9.Ng3 Bg4 10.f3, and after 8. ... Ne6 9.Bb5:+ I'm not sure if black has enough for the pawn.
Because of this problem I've looked at several other options for black like Ulvestadt (5. ... b5!?) and 5. ... Na5 6.Bb5+ Bd7, but haven't found anything entirely satisfactory yet.
What do you guys think - should I stick to the Fritz, or is there another variation you can recommend?
For the record, Dr. Hans Berliner missed three winning strategies in the Berliner Variation for White. After 8...Qh4 9.Ng3 Bg4 10.f3 e4 11.cxd4 Bd6 12.Qe2!! Be6 (12...O-O 13.fxg3 is a simple win for White after 13...Bxg3ch 14.Kd1 Black has nothing close to adequate compensation for the piece).
After 12...Be6 the winning strategies for White in ascending order of degree of ease that are winning for White:
1) 13.fxe4?? is book and the worst choice after 13...Nb4. Since this is the square Black wants to put his Knight, why force Black to play a strong move?
2)13.Qf2?! This wins but only if you are a computer playing a human. There are no basic patterns so it has to be crunched without pattern recognition,
3) 13.Nc3!? This is a simple win after 13...Nxc3 14.dxc3 Bxg3ch 15.hxg3 Qxh1 16.Qxb5ch Kf8 (Black can stay a piece down with 16...Bd7 17.Qe5ch Be6 18.d5 O-O 19.dxe6 but Black is still down a piece with a much simpler position to play than the main line.
4)What may be new to theory is incredible if it has been missed 13.Qxb5ch!! Here is the score of a game I played against Fritz 12 at 120'40 60'20 '30.
13.Qxb5ch Kd8 14.fxe4 a6 15.Qd3 Nb4 16.Qc3 Nxa2 17.Rxa2 Bxg3ch 18.hxg3 Qxe4ch 19.Kf2 Bxa2 20.Na3 Qf5ch 21.Qf3 Qxf3 22.gxf3 f6 23.Bc4 Bxc4 24.Nxc4 & Fritz says that this is +-.