Ametanoitos wrote on 08/09/12 at 14:28:05:
I'm going to edit somewhat the Bologan lines (copyright issues) and paste them here.
I have no such qualms.
Arkhangelsk Defence with 7 d3
There is an argument that 7 d3 is particularly justified here, since by playing his bishop so early to b7 Black has shown his hand, granting White certain privileges:
a) White will not have to play h3 in the near future to prevent a ...Bg4 pin, so will be a tempo up compared, for example, with the 8 h3 Anti-Marshall.
b) Black will be unable, except at considerable cost in time, to oppose White’s bishop with ...Be6, if White decides to keep it operating on the “Italian” diagonal a2-g8.
c) White can devote resources towards making it very difficult for Black to play ...d5, thus the Arkhangelsk bishop on b7 might find it hard to develop any activity;
d) by keeping his bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal, White retains pressure on f7, which means that in some lines Black might have to spend a move on playing ...h6 to prevent Ng5;
e) f5 is an even more than usually inviting square for a white knight, in the absence of Black’s bishop from the c8-h3 diagonal, and especially if Black has played ...h6, making it difficult or impossible for Black to contest the f5-square with ...g6.
What counter-arguments can Black summon in reply? Very few, but they do have some power.
a) 7 d3 is a quiet move that puts no immediate pressure on Black’s centre (e5), so Black has a breathing space to organize his position.
b) thus far Black has been playing soundly, in accordance with the approved opening principles; his only “sin” is the peccadillo of having committed his bishop to b7 rather early.
c) in compensation, he has not yet committed his queen’s pawn or his king’s bishop, which has a choice of four squares.
So much for the theoretical background. Let’s try to be a bit more specific and examine Black’s three main options.
7...Bc5 develops the bishop to an aggressive diagonal; if White wants to swat it away with c3, d4, this will now cost him a tempo. However, the move scores quite badly for Black (White scores 64% from 435 games in Megabase) and it seems that most strong Arkhangelsk supporters have been avoiding this move since the debacle of Carlsen-Beliavsky, 2006. It is very easy for the two black bishops to be left merely spectating on the queenside, while White is hacking away on the kingside. There is one Marshall-like forcing line which was tried (by transposition) in the Kasparov-Kramnik match in 2000; it leads to an ending of R+6P vs. B+B+4P which Kramnil drew as Black, but it is difficult to be enthusiastic about such a line. Kramnik annotated the game extensively in Informant 80.
7...Be7 has, in recent years, been the main choice of strong Arkhangelsk supporters and is covered, albeit not very rigorously in my view, on Mikhalchisin’s DVD. Most of his pupils now play this and I note that it is the regular choice of Pogonina, who has been playing the Arkhangelsk a lot since she switched to 1...e5 from the Dragon. 7...Be7 intuitively feels the most sound and reliable response to 7 d3. However, in addition to transpositions to various Anti-Marshalls, Black must be prepared for several different approaches from White’s flexible position: c3 or a3 or a4 or c4; Nc3 or Nbd2. White is able to retain this flexibility for as long as Black is not threatening ...Na5. In Megabase White scores 57% from 721 games after 7...Be7 (not including later transpositions).
7...Bd6 is in some ways the most fascinating option. White scores 54% from 226 games. Black develops a piece (albeit to a square from which it will almost certainly have to move again), prepares castling, and by defending the e5-pawn immediately threatens ...Na5, bagging the bishop pair, thus almost forcing White to decide right away between a3, a4, c3 (or even c4). The bishop can later move “out” from d6 to c5 or b4, or “in” to e7 (to break any Bg5-pin) or, more likely, to f8, after ...Re8. This line has been played by Mikhalchisin’s former pupil Mateusz Bartel (on the occasions when he has not felt like relying on his usual French). Bartel wrote of 7 d3: “This is surely not the most critical answer.”
N.B. Obviously if Black retreats the bishop from d6 to f8 in the near future, then transposition to some 7...Be7 line or Anti-Marshall is quite likely.
I don’t find Bologan’s analysis very convincing against 7...Bd6. He gives.1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Bd6 8. a3 O-O 9. Nc3 and now he considers only 9... Ne7 and 9...h6, but 9...Nd4 (as suggested by Houdini) looks interesting and might be playable.
After 9...h6 Bologan suggests 10. h3 Re8 11. Be3 Bf8 12. Re1 d6 13. Nd5 as better for White, but to me this looks like a perfectly playable (if not very exciting) position for Black. Bologan then considers 13...Nd7 but this is surely not the only move. I suggest that 13... Na5 14. Ba2 c5 deserves consideration.
Brief PGN attached. Comments welcome, of course.
Caveats: I have not been able to refer to Mikhalchisin’s original DVD devoted to the Arkhangelsk nor to the relevant volume in Khalifman’s OFWATA series.