Bump!?
Surprisingly – at least to me – there’s a new ChessBase video out on the Tango, by Andrew Martin:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/andrew-martin-the-surprising-black-knights-tango-u... What should we make of this? I had thought the Tango was somewhat under a cloud, lately because of 3 Nc3 e5 4 d5 Ne7 5 e4 Ng6 and now
6 h4 h5 7 a3 or
6 a3 immediately. The Contents of the video cite Nesterov–Praggnanandhaa which went 6 h4 h5 7 Bg5 Bc5, but don’t mention the a3 move at all, presumably so as not to give away the analysis rather than because it isn’t covered, but who knows?
The two major responses to a2-a3 (with or without h4/h5 in) are …Bc5, and …a5. After …Bc5, White (in both lines) plays b4!, meeting …Bd4 with Nge2!, since it seems Black must avoid …Nxe4 then as the sacrificial Nxe4! is a crushing reply, even if no one (?) has actually played it! (And 8/9….c5 is grotty.) Seemingly, no one has met b4 with the engine-recommended
…Be7!? either. Perhaps the video suggests this? – at least Black remains on the board, with a small lead in development.
And what of the …a5 defence? In the line with h4/h5 included, I have a note suggesting that the paradoxical (7 a3 a5) 8 Be3!? Ng4 9 Bg5! f6 10 Be3 Ne3 11 fe is strong. But maybe the thematic
11 …c6 is playable here? – at least it dissuades White from crudely mooting Be2/Bxh5. As for 6 a3 a5, another Pragg game (Ivanisevic–Praggnanandhaa) went 7 Be3 b6 8 f3 Bc5 9 Qd2 0-0 (9 …d6 10 0-0-0 Nd7 has also been seen) 10 0-0-0 d6 and Black eventually won. But isn’t
8 h4 here much stronger than 8 f3? – why should White weaken his dark squares at exactly the point Black is getting the darkfielders off the board?
So, what might Martin suggest, and how should Black handle these positions? – all thoughts gratefully received!