PANFR wrote on 12/04/11 at 12:03:43:

White has the more active black-squared Bishop.

PANFR wrote on 12/04/11 at 12:03:43:

This is stereotypal play by White. Not because the Qd1-d3-c4+ manoeuvre is dangerous against ...Bc5 it is also best against ...Be7. Sample lines:
6.Be3 d6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.h3 a6 10.Bc4+ Kh8 11.a3 += or 8...Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.Be2 h6 (O-O?! 11.Ng5 or Qd7?! 11.Nxe5) 11.Nh4 (11.Nxe5!?) Bf7 12.Nf5 +=.
This is always the problem if Black keeps the Bishop at home - lack of counterplay.

6.Be3 Ng4 is too slow indeed - just 7.O-O. So everything regarding 6.Be3 depends on Nxe4.

Yeah, but that pointless Be3 will be easier to activate than its counterpart on f8.

Not too hasty. You will also have to show (though that might be very possible) that White has an edge after 4.d3 Nf6 5.exf5 or 5.Be3. After other moves Black still can play 5...fxe4.
And how about 4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.Be3 Ng4 ?

Have you looked at 6.Qe2 already?
Before those people start reconsidering they (you?) could look at Van der Wiel-Timmermans, Hilversum 1983 (11.Bf4 c6 12.Nxe5 fxe5 13.Bxe5) and Meier-De Jong, Antwerpen 2010.

Markovich wrote on 11/30/11 at 01:58:05:

But it seems that Huggy has Chess Truth on 9.Nxe5. Trust him. If it doesn't work, I'll give my own CT.

I looked at 17.Qd3 which seems unclear after 17...Qh5! With deep analysis maybe we can prove an advantage for WHite but i don't want to try this in practice. Black is very active and a slight mistake can prove fatal. Indeed, i have to change my main line after 3...f5.

Mr Bucker, i'd like to see your idea after my proposal in the 3...Bc5 line. I like White very much to be honest. I may be wrong but till now nobody proved me wrong. I am sure that you'll come close!  (or even do it at the end!)

In the Berlin i think that the gambit idea is interesting but my main line would be to enter the endgame. There is simply nothing else.

Hello Ametanoitos,

good to see you so active again on this site. Your post #331 on 3...f5 doesn't consider 13...c5!!, see #275. And I think you are too pessimistic about 3...Bc5.

The Berlin is interesting, the topic would be fine with me. I have written about the L'Hermet Variation (aka Berlin Gambit) 6.dxe5. Seems to be equal, but there is much which Black must avoid.

This is my file on the 3...f5. You can paste it on chessbase since i don't know how to use that pgn reader application. Sorry if a solution has already been mentioned here but when i did this work i was quite sure that it is a safe way for a White edge:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.04.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Further study"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C63"]
[Annotator "Ntirlis,Nikos"]
[PlyCount "43"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Nc3 fxe4 5. Nxe4 Nf6 6. Nxf6+ Qxf6 (6... gxf6
7. d4 $1) 7. Qe2 Be7 8. Bxc6 bxc6 (8... dxc6 {is Sokolov's main line} 9. Nxe5 (
9. Qxe5 Bg4 10. Qxf6 Bxf6 11. d3 O-O-O $44 {1-0 Naiditsch,A (2687)-Salem,A
(2484)/Moscow RUS 2010/OM 2.04 (37)}) 9... Bf5 (9... O-O 10. O-O Bd6 11. d4 c5
12. Be3 Be6 13. f4 Qf5 14. b3 Qe4 {and now Sokolov likes} 15. dxc5 $1 {with
the idea (probably)} Bxc5 16. Rae1 Bb4 17. Bf2 Qxe2 18. Rxe2 $14) 10. O-O O-O (
10... O-O-O {"woth analysing" Sokolov, but this was tested in a high class
game:} 11. d3 Rhe8 12. f4 Kb8 13. Qf2 Bc8 14. Bd2 b6 15. Rae1 Qe6 16. f5 Qd5
17. c4 Qxe5 18. Rxe5 {1-0 Leko,P (2751)-Aronian,L (2750)/Nice 2009/OM 2.04})
11. d4 Bd6 12. c3 (12. f4 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Qg6 14. Rf2 Rad8 15. Be3 a6 16. Kh1 Rd5
17. h3 Qg3 18. Rf3 Qg6 19. c4 Bd3 20. Qf2 Bxc4 21. f5 Qe8 22. Bd4 Rxe5 23. Qg3
Re7 24. f6 Rd7 25. Bc5 Bd5 26. Re3 Qf7 27. Bxf8 Qxf8 28. Rae1 Qxf6 29. Re8+ Kf7
30. Qg4 Rd8 31. Qh5+ {1-0 Rasmussen,A (2513)-Bromann,T (2435)/Hillerod DEN
2010/OM 2.04}) 12... Be6 13. f4 Rae8 14. Be3 Qf5 15. b3 a5 16. Rae1 a4 17. c4 {
and Sokolov says that Black can hold. Houdini gives +0.70 but OK, White is
better and plays for two results}) 9. d4 $1 {Sokolov} (9. Qxe5 {0-1 Rasmussen,
A (2409)-Skytte,R (2475)/Skakliga 2007-08 2008/OM 2.04 (39)}) 9... Qg6 (9...
exd4 $2 10. Bg5 $1 Qe6 11. Qxe6 dxe6 12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. Nxd4) 10. O-O d6 11. Qc4
$1 {Sokolov's improvement. Houdini agrees and practice has favoured White the
last 2 years} d5 (11... Bd7 $6 12. dxe5 d5 13. Qf4 Rf8 (13... Qxc2 $2 14. e6
Bxe6 15. Nd4 Qg6 16. Re1) 14. Qg3 {Sokolov}) 12. Qc3 exd4 (12... Bh3 13. Nh4 $1
(13. Ne1 $6 Bg4 $1 {with Be2 next} (13... Bf5 $6 {1-0 Filipenko Alexander V
(RUS) (2362)-Zharkov Alexey (RUS) (2284)/Perm (Russia) 2009/OM 2.04 (40)}))
13... Qe6 14. Qg3 $14) 13. Nxd4 O-O (13... Bd7 14. Re1 Qf6 15. Nxc6 Qxc6 16.
Qxg7 O-O-O 17. Rxe7 Rhg8 18. Qxh7 Rh8 19. Qg7 d4 20. Bg5 Rhg8 21. Qf6 {1-0
Copar,A (2353)-Auzins,M (2452)/ICCF 1997/OM 2.04}) 14. Qxc6 {'1/2-1/2 Kislik,E
(2336)-Lyell,M (2224)/Kecskemet (Hungary) 2010/OM 2.04'} Qxc6 15. Nxc6 Bf6 16.
Re1 $1 (16. c3 {is only given by Sokolov}) 16... Bb7 17. Ne5 Rae8 (17... Bxe5
18. Rxe5 {probably this is what Sokolov wanted to avoid? The opposite
couloured Bishops?}) (17... Rfe8 18. Bf4 Re6 19. Nd3 Rae8 20. Rxe6 Rxe6 21. Rc1
Re7 22. b3 g5 23. Bd2 Kf7 24. Re1 Rxe1+ 25. Bxe1 g4 26. Ba5 c6 27. Bc7 Bd4 28.
Bd6 a6 29. Bc5 Bf6 30. Kf1 Ke6 31. Ke2 Kf5 32. Ke3 h5 33. Bd4 Be7 34. g3 h4 35.
f4 gxf3 36. Kxf3 hxg3 37. hxg3 Bc8 38. Be3 Bf6 39. g4+ Kg6 40. Bf4 Bc3 41. Be5
{1/2-1/2 Roberts,A (2264)-Noble,M (2306)/LSS 2008/OM 2.04}) 18. Bf4 Re7 19. Nd3
Rfe8 20. Rxe7 Rxe7 21. Be3 d4 22. Bd2 $14 *

Note that 17...Rae8 and 17...Rfe8 can be met by the same way as shown in the main line. Someone could argue that Black has enough comp here, or say that it may be +/= but defendable. I tried to prove this in some training games but i always had the feeling at the end that i was playing only for a draw and that i would be lucky if i achieve it. This is at least a practical choice for a repertoire. Safe (as Panfr -who is a solid IM!- said) and theoreticaly satisfactory for White