Well, it's a good try, Kazzy...with this 9.f5!?(N) 
As I said before this 8.f4!? is a very good practical weapon.. You prove it in your game, too.. That's for sure!.. But my point is...is it really sound?  Even in this game of yours you give some good alternatives for black. I have to admit that I'm stuck to correspondence chess and thus I always try to find the sound approach in the openings I play, not the practical one. In other words I can't rely upon the pure surprise.. It's unhealthy, you know.. 
Anyway, I still dig into that variation with 8.f4!?.. Even if I can't prove chances for some white advantage...it will be useful for my overall understanding of this Botvinnik setup. 

Katalyst wrote on 11/19/11 at 20:15:17:

Right!.. And in this particular case...I wonder if they're right...or not.. 

Vass wrote on 11/18/11 at 22:33:14:

You can bring up that argument against 1.c4 too.

Indeed. Fwiw I would play 8.f4. The Botvinnik system is designed for it so you will end up playing it anyway, and in some lines you can play d4 straight away gaining a tempo. I guess it is somewhat sharper than 8.d3, so it's probably one of those 'matter of taste' things.

Katalyst, that was my impression too. 

Far too often in my correspondence games, my opponent makes a novelty that comes straight from an engine even though hundreds of contemporary games may exist to show how humans approach the position. My opponent almost always gets into trouble by following this approach.

By following a novelty you devised (rather than an engine), you will have the edge against the great majority of correspondence players who  rely too heavily on their silicon partners.   

Of course, you should probably run your novelty against your computer a couple of times before playing correspondence, but I expect that you have already done that in preparation for your OTB games.

In the outstanding books "The Dynamic English" by our Tony and "Mastering The Chess Openings, vol.3" by John Watson this move 8.f4 was mentioned as very interesting. The first player is trying to occupate the centre before black can push f7-f5.. The f4-f5 followed by h2-h3 and g3-g4 threat is obvious too. What is more, in some variations (after e5xf4 for example) white can push d2-d4 in one try.. As a first player I happened to meet this setup with Nf6, Nc6, g6 and Bg7 several times OTB with excellent results. Most of my opponents didn't react as they were obliged to.. Anyway, my question is: Is this 8.f4 a really good move?.. Marin never mentioned it - he gives only the 8.d3-setup in his great "GM Repertoire 3, The English Opening vol.1 1...e5". Of course, the two English experts Tony Kosten and John Watson give 8.d3 too, because this is the main continuation in the spirit of this Botvinnik setup. Anyway, this 8.f4 is an exccelent try OTB, but is it good enough for the correspondence chess, for example?!