Thanks for your comments, trw!

I know that 7...Nd5 is a sideline, and 8...Bg6 even more so, so we are looking at a sideline's sideline.

I played against Hiarcs 13.2, but later checked the opinion of my other engines. Rybka and Stockfish also favoured 11...Nf6, and it was second choice for Houdini (after 11...f6, I think).

(By the way, I thought about a new name for Rybka in case those accusations against it are true. If it were a german engine, I would suggest "Früchtchen", pronounced [ˈfʁʏçtçən], with the literal meaning "little fruit", as it's claimed that one of it's "parents" is Fruit, and Früchtchen has some quite appropriate connotations in German; but as it's initially baptized a russian name, maybe one of our Russian speaking friends from this forum has a suggestion?  )

Back to business. I was quite happy with 15.Nf6+, but trw, you might be right that the best decision (at least from a practical point of view) is the immediate return of the piece. So after 15.Be3 Qh4+ 16.Bf2 Qxg4 17.Qxg4 Bxg4 18.Rg1 Bh5 19.dxe5 we reach the following position:



The black knight has to move, so 19...Nd7, attacking the white Pe5. Ok, White has the g-gile for his rook, exerting pressure on g7, some lead in development, quite some space advantage and of course his advanced centre pawns. Black has a seemingly misplaced bishop on h5 and - logically - less space, less development, and no centre pawns at all. This sounds rather like +/- than like +=.

But I think the Bh5 is not totally bad - it keeps d1 under control, so that neither Rd1 nor 0-0-0 is possible for White - the white king has to remain in the centre. And, maybe even more importantly, Black's knight is threatening Nxe5, winning a pawn and acquiring a nice outpost. So 20.Bd4 seems like a natural move (after 20.Bg3, Black can answer Bc5, as the white bishop has blocked the g-file for the rook; I don't think that 20.e5-e6?! is any good).

Now I don't like 20...c5 for Black - he would win the Pe5, but the white pieces would become very active (20...c5?! 21.Be3 Nxe5 22.Bb5+ Nc6 23.Nd5):



I think that 20...Nc5 is stronger, threatening Nb3, after that the game might continue 21.Bxc5 (of course, there are some other possible moves, but winning the Pg7 seems plausible) Bxc5 22.Rxg7 Bd4 23.Bc4 (White has a draw after 23.Rg5 Bf3 24.Rg3 Bh5) h6! (preventing Rg5), and Pe5 will drop:



In my view, this position might be easier for Black than for White!?

Best regards,

Zwischenzugzwang

Hello everybody!

A recent game me against the computer started 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nd5!? 8.f3, and now instead of the normal 8...e5, the machine played 8...Lg6. The game followed Ruslans recommendation for another 5 plys: 9.e4 N5b6 10.Ne3 a5 11.f4!?, as in I.Ivanisevic-P.Jaracz, Internet blitz 2003, and now, instead of saving the bishop with 11...f6 as in the aforementioned game, the machine answered 11...Nf6.



After 12.f5 (what else?) Bh5 13.g4 Nxg4 14.Nxg4 came the strong move 14...e5! 15.Nf6+ Qxf6 16.Qxh5 exd4



and although Rybka & Co still give White an advantage of about half a pawn, I evaluate the resulting position as rather unclear, as Black has two pawns for the piece and the white king doesn't seem to feel very well anywhere on the board.

11.Be2 might be an improvement, as White is accelerating his development and f3-f4-f5 seems to be a real threat now. I would welcome any commentaries!

Best regards,

Zwischenzugzwang