I’m starting this thread in the hopes there might be others like me who are interested in exploring any newer developments in -- and White’s most dangerous lines against -- the Black Knights’ Tango. Thinking about why I often fail to look systematically at the recent games, I reckon this might be out of a feeling that White’s strongest tries involve not allowing a Tango at all, but heading for (e.g.) a Zurich Nimzo (the subject of another current thread). But the lines with an early h2-h4 (Chapter 2, pp. 42-54 of Richard Palliser's excellent 2005 book) strike me as no less dangerous than Tango-avoidance, and yet there are not many GM/IM games to look at. The last development here I know about is the scare that arose in 2008 when linksspringer discovered that the line 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nc3 e5 4 d5 Ne7 5 Nf3 Ng6 6 h4 h5 7 e3 Bb4 8 Bd2 0-0 9 Bd3 Bc3? (Tango!, p. 47) 10 Bc3 e4 10 Bf6 Qf6 12 Be4 Qb2 is refuted by the simple 13 0-0!. Fortunately there was a rescue: 9 …d6!, after which 10 Ng5 (or 10 Qc2 Ne7) c6 11 Qc2 Ne7 should transpose to the line 9 Qc2 d6 10 Bd3 Ne7. Palliser implies 7 Qc2 here is a weaker choice for White, but I’m worried about the lines he gives: 7 …Ng4 8 Bg5 Be7 9 e3 d6 10 Bd3 Nf8 11 Be7 Qe7 12 0-0 [12 c5!?, 12 Nb5!?] is surely better for White even without the surely optimistic continuation 12 …g6?! 13 b4 f5? (14 e4!), and there’s also 9 d6!?, when 9 …cd 10 Nd5 Bg5 11 Ng5 Ne7 (p. 46) is fine for Black, but surely just 10 e3! (10 …0-0 11 Bd3; 10 …d5 11 cd) is stronger. (Houdini concocts a subtle defence beginning with 10 …b6!?, but it looks a bit thankless.) I therefore began to think just 7 …d6 might be best, meeting 8 Bg5 with 8 …Be7 9 e3 Nh7 (maybe 9 …Nf8 is possible too, e.g. 10 Bd3 N8d7 or 10 a3 N8h7), thus transposing into the line 7 Bg5 Be7 8 e3 d6 9 Qc2 (the book gives only 9 Bd3, which is also tricky though Black can avoid it with 7 ...d6 8 e3 [not forced!] Bf5) Nh7 (which got rather exciting in Raja-Arnaudov, Zagreb 2012). I also wondered about 7 Qc2 d6 8 Bg5 Ne7!?, while 7 ...Be7 is an alternative possibility, of course. White can also try (7 Qc2 d6) 8 Ng5!? here. I’m not sure how dangerous 8 …Be7 9 Ne6!? is, but maybe 8 …Ne7 is an idea here too? In many of these lines, though, the boundary between ‘solid’ and ‘nagging inferiority’ looks a hard one to see clearly, and I think Black has always to take care not to end up in a merely passive position. In short, 7 Qc2 looks to me a serious try, and I'm not at all sure what the best answer is. This at any rate is my attempt to start the ball rolling on the more dangerous Tango lines. Any thoughts?
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