vallescure wrote on 12/29/11 at 17:18:09:


Avoid it. Only played by Swiss.
No to Bg4 here.

And what about 6 Be2 Bg4 7 Be3 Nfd7 ?

Glenn Snow wrote on 04/23/11 at 04:01:07:


Panczyk/Ilczuk in their 2009 book thought that that "very dangerous" line should come out about even.  7...Ng4 was treated as the main move in NCO (1999), with one possibility being a transposition to the very dangerous line.  9...a5 instead of 9...f5 in the VDL has been given as leading to unclear positions by Panczyk/Ilczuk and ECO; the latter has had the same view of 7...c5!?. 

MartinC wrote on 04/22/11 at 12:38:51:


Selection bias, selection bias, selection bias.  Those statistics tell you nothing of White's drawing potential if he's playing for a draw.

Well, I'm not sure what the basis would be for considering it an inferior move order; e.g. 7. Be3 e5 8. d5 and 7. Be3 e5 8. Qd2 have been given as leading to a slight advantage for White, but so has 7. 0-0 e5 (/6...e5 7. 0-0 Nbd7).  "Dembo argues that it is playable for Black" seemed to imply something like that there is a common view that White can reach a clear advantage against it, which has never been the case as far as I know.

MartinC wrote on 04/22/11 at 12:38:51:


But if the ....Nbd7 and ...Na6 lines are to be true "anti-drawishness" weapons, it depends on playing them on move 6 to avoid 6...e5 7.dxe5. So you really have to compare, for example, 6...Na6 7.0-0 e5 AND 6...Na6 7.Nd2!? with 6...e5 7.0-0 Nc6 AND 6...e5 7.dxe5 AND 6...e5 7.d5.

And it gets even more complicated, since both 6...Na6 and 6...Nbd7 reduce Black's options against the Gligoric 7.Be3 (but still leaves him with playable lines probably).

Matemax wrote on 04/22/11 at 12:12:20:


Lines with dxe5 on move 8 (after White has castled and Black has either ...Nc6, ...Nbd7 or ...Na6 already in) are considered completely toothless, maybe already better for Black. So that doesn't play any big part in deciding which line to choose.

6...Na6 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 is a possible order of course, but not something that should bother Black.

rukh wrote on 04/22/11 at 12:03:33:


If the knigth is on a6 you can simply play ...c6 after:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.de5 de5 9.Qd8 Rd8 9.Bg5 c6 and I would rather be Black here: You can exploit the d4-square

If the knigth is on c6 then:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.de5 de5 9.Qd8 Rd8 9.Bg5 and now you have to move the rook again due to the threat of Nd5 - of course Black is equal in the resulting position but with the Na6/c6 is perhaps slightly more equal than White

Glenn Snow wrote on 04/21/11 at 14:09:16:


I quite like 7...Nbd7 (and it was discussed here in view of today's most natural move 8.Be3) but Dembo's remarks on 8.Qc2 are far from deep...
With her sugestion (8...Nh5 a.s.f.) Black steers his ship in shallow waters.