Something recent and quite interesting in the Scotch, Mieses Variation, is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 and now 9...Bb7!?. This is dismissed fairly lightly in Dembo and Palliser's excellent reference, The Scotch Game (p. 118). In The Scotch Game for White, Vladimir Barsky is even more condemning (p.165). But within the past year or two, a number of Blacks have taken up this method of play, and with decent results. It's even been played at the highest level (see Shirov - Kramnik, below). I don't believe we have discussed it here, though it has been briefly treated in the updates.
A theoretically significant game, Nepomniachtchi - Bacrot, Latvia 2012, was won by White:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Bd2 g6 11.Ne4 O-O-O (Dembo and Palliser give only 11...Bg7, while Barsky additionally considers 11...Qe6 as played in Van der Wiel - Garcia Gilardo, Wijk aan Zee 1996) 12.a4 Ba6 13.Qf3 Re8 14.Bc3 f5 15.Nd2 Bg7 16.c5 Bxf1 17.cxb6 Ba6 18.bxa7 Kb7 19.O-O-O Bxe5 20.Rhe1 Qf6 21.Rxe5 Rxe5 22.Qf4 Rhe8 23.Qb4+ Kxa7 24.f4 Qd6 1-0.
Nevertheless, as pointed out by Victor Mikhalevski in the November 2012 update, Black would have been fine with 15...Bh6! instead of 15...Bg7.
Another highly critical line is 10.Bd2 g6 11.Ne4 O-O-O 12.a4 Ba6 13.a5 (instead of 13.Qf3 as above) 13...Nxc4 14.Ra4 Re8 15.f3 Qxe5 16.Bc3 Qf4. The complications here are quite satisfactory to Black. The result should be a draw, as in Scharf - Laurent, ICCF 2012, but Black even managed to win in Maffei - Laffranchise, ICCF 2012. I won't bother to quote these games.
A third critical line is after 12.a4 Ba6 is 13.Qe3 Qxe5 14.Bc3 Bb4 15.Bxb4 Rhe8. But Black appears to be entirely O.K., an example being:
Shirov - Kramnik, Wijk aan Zee 2011
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Bd2 g6 11.Ne4 O-O-O 12.a4 Ba6 13.Qe3 Qxe5 14.Bc3 Bb4 15.Bxb4 Rhe8 16.f3 d5 17.a5 Nxc4 18.Qxa7 Qxb2 19.Qxa6+ Kd7 20.Rd1 Qxb4+ 21.Kf2 Rxe4 22.fxe4 Qc5+ 23.Ke1 Qb4+ 24.Kf2 Qc5+ 25.Ke1 Nb2 26.exd5 Qc3+ 27.Rd2 Qc1+ 28.Ke2 Re8+ 29.Kf3 Qxd2 30.Qxc6+ Kd8 31.Qf6+ Re7 32.Kg4 Nd1 33.Qh8+ Kd7 34.Bb5+ c6 35.Bxc6+ Kc7 36.d6+ Qxd6 37.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 38.Bf3 h5+ 39.Kg3 Qe1+ 40.Kh3 Qe6+ 41.Kh4 g5+ 42.Kxg5 Qg6+ 43.Kf4 f6 0-1.
Alternatives to 12.a4 do not appear to be very challenging for Black. Black's very natural method of play in this line is quite attractive, and the ball, as they say over and over again in these theoretical discussions, is in White's court.
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