dom wrote on 06/09/13 at 16:04:07:


In my last article http://chess-brabo.blogspot.be/2014/06/creating-repertoire.html I annotated 2 games with this line.

For a diagram, click on icon same chessboard while typing post...
You will have "fen" text tags then inserted.
Type inside tags, the fen string:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR
where one letter is initial of piece (maj letters are for WHITE)
numbers 1,2...8 are empty squares
you have eight raws separated with /

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9...b6!? (Khalifman) and 9...c4 (Portisch) are alternatives.

Better you try one of them before learning about the sacrifice
material is spread in various chess books and also in this forum

I will do later a review of the line (not now,because my data is not available).

What I remember: this sacrifice is sharp, and only precise moves from White and Black will maintain balance. As Smyslov Fan posted, the usual assessment is "good for White"...but I am not sure about percentage of White player who will know the 'refutation'...myself I don't remember even I have played it as Black, and work about it. Long time ago, one "local" GM in Toulouse was not so good in that variation and told me after game: "...I must work to remember moves in this sacrifice line".

Maybe you stopped exactly at the position, when no more "forced" moves. The undermining move g5 is tempting because typical in such pawn stucture..but driving game on the bloody way.

Some sacrificial lines are typical for Black in French..you can work and play them,..,curiosity is quality in chess.

This sac of the piece for three pawns was very topical in the late 1980s. It has been all but refuted. White has very close to a won game here. This is a shame though, because it was a really cool idea!

The move order you choose was probably not ideal.


Here's one of the games that pretty much ended the discussion of the variation: