In my humble patzer opinion, I think that white has the slightly better chanses in Alapin with Nf6 compared to Alapin via Morra move order. 

About Morra aceepted, I think whites has very good practical chanses even in lines white has played moves that are suboptimal. 

If 2 Nf3 followed by d4 is a mistake against most options since black gets a more pawns in the centre I would say that by the same logic Morra most be even more of a mistake since whites has no longer more pawns at queenside.

If everyone declined Morra with d3 I would play Morra and not Open sicilian since I rather play white in the Bind. About accelerated Dragon, white or is is not forced to play either the Bind or play Bc4 yugoslav attack. If white plays g3 systems vs Dragon it is possible to retreat the Knight to e2 and transpose to a Dragon mainline. Be2 based Slay the siciliian also recommened the same line vs Dragon and accelereted Dragon by transposing by moveing the Knight.

Regarding the first point, White's delaying d4 is a more common and significant possibility than Black's delaying ...cd.

Actually from the Morra move order White has less options than the Alapin, as he can't delay d2-d4 for a while.

I played 3...d3 and 3...dc3 followed by e6, a6 and b5 ages ago, but nowadays always play 3...Nf6. So far none of my opponents in the position after 3...Nf6 have managed to play sensible theory past move nine. 

I've purchased Langrock's Morra book so I might buy this one too, especially since I have the Alapin in my White repertoire already. But I'll wait for some reviews first.

Yes there are, but the problem with needing extra work is principally down to the extra degree of soundness that both 2 Nf3 and the open sicillian have over the KG/Morra.

With the KG and Morra there's enough worry about their soundness for people to plausibly try and refute them. Obviously white very likely has enough scope to survive these attempts but their existence does show that white has to be pretty accurate early on to even survive.

On the other hand It'd be totally absurd for someone to try and refute 2 Nf3 or the open Sicillian Getting a workable advantage takes a whole lot of work of course. 

But what you do get offered is the chance to deviate a bit fairly early on and retain a prefectly acceptable, interesting position.

MNb wrote on 06/26/12 at 20:26:49:

You're right that the Morra is no easy option for White: Black has a whole host of playable options available and White would be well-advised to be prepared for them.

What I think is important, though, is that Morra theory is considerably less crystallised than Open Sicilian theory, which means that any independent work a Morra player does will have a greater chance of reaping dividends. Many Open Sicilian lines have been tested thoroughly at a high level, but the Morra hasn't. So there are likely to be many more strong and undiscovered novelties lurking in the Morra undergrowth than in the Open Siclian plains. Esserman's crushing defeat of Van Wely in 2011 is an apt example of a winning idea discovered in a known Morra position.

So you're right, White has a lot of work to do if he intends to play the Morra. My contention is that this work is potentially more productive than the work he'd have to put into learning Open Sicilians.

Volcanor wrote on 06/26/12 at 07:58:44:

This is the only serious option.

Seeley wrote on 06/26/12 at 12:10:51:

It's safe to assume that you'll meet 3...Nf6 in 15-25% of your games.

Seeley wrote on 06/26/12 at 08:27:11:

This is correct of course, but it isn't much of a shortcut. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.cxd4 e5 and 5...e6 with a later ...cxd4 are also important lines. The transposition is 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.cxd4 Nc6 6.Nf3 e5 and 6...e6. In the latter case White sometimes has the extra option of Bc4, which transposes to the Steinitz Variation of the QGA.

Anther possible transposition is 3...g6 4.cxd4 d5 and White has the choice between 4.e5 (a kind of Gurgenidze System) and 4.exd5  (Panov Variation of the Caro-Kann and/or the Hyper Accelerated Dragon 2.Nf3).
There is also 3...e6 4.cxd4 d5 when 5.e5, a sideline of the French Exchange is best.
Finally there is 2...d6 3.cxd4 Nf6 4.Nc3 which is a good version of 2.c3 d6.
This is nothing to put White off, but it is an important reason why I call the Morra Gambit highly theoretical - the Open Sicilian is less work.