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I’m hoping to generate a discussion about the 4 Bg5 Pirc, a sharp and complicated variation which (along with its treatment in books) I’ve often found confusing!
Here’s my own thinking to date. After 4 Bg5 Bg7 there are perhaps three main lines, depending on how you classify things. The first is the well-known Torre-resembling line that Black can insist on if White plays 5 Qd2, namely:
5 Qd2 h6 6 Bh4 (or 6 Bf4) g5 7 Bg3 Nh5 8 0-0-0. (Black now has 8 …Nc6 or 8 …Nd7.) I’ll call this Line A.
The other two lines arise if White prevents Line A by playing 5 f4, or if Black meets 5 Qd2 with 5 …c6 rather than 5 …h6 (or if, in Line A above, he meets 6 Bh4 not with 6 …g5 but with 6 …0-0 7 0-0-0 c6). They are:
5 f4 c6 6 Qd2 h6 7 Bh4 0-0 8 0-0-0 b5. (White now has 9 e5 or 9 Bd3.) I’ll call this Line B1.
5 f4 c6 6 Qd2 0-0 7 Bd3 b5 8 Nf3 Bg4. (White now has 9 0-0-0, 9 0-0 and 9 e5.) I’ll call this Line B2.
Of course, there are several possible transpositions, and I’ve tried to set these out below. I’ve omitted White’s fifth-move alternatives 5 e5, 5 Qe2 and 5 Nf3, both because they’re not too dangerous and because Black can effectively avoid them (at the cost of ruling out Line A entirely) by playing 4 …c6 5 Qd2 (or 5 f4) Bg7 – perhaps the only purpose of that move order.
The main thing that puzzles me is why writers like Davies, in his new book, give Line A as their main line when White can simply avoid it with 5 f4, which I had thought was considered more dangerous anyway! But I’m also interested in some other White tries, and which move orders Black might choose (I mean, according to whether he favours Line B1 or B2) to avoid them and/or permit them! For example, in going down line Ib below, Black risks, as well as 6 0-0-0 b5 7 f3!?, the 4 Be3 transposition 6 Bh6 Bh6 7 Qh6. What should Black play now? – 7 …e5 perhaps, or 7 …Qa5 7 Bd3 Na6!? targeting the Bishop (7 …c5?! 8 d5 looks grim)?
Similarly in line Ib(i) below, if White plays 8 Nf3 iso 8 0-0-0, the usual recipe of 8 …d5 looks adequate to me, but what about the crafty 8 Bd3? I’d be tempted by 8 …Na6 (∆ …c5) here fearing that otherwise I’d be squashed by e4–e5, but is that right? – I’m worried White may be just better in this line. If Black wants Line B1 and not B2, he must accede to this line, along with either the 4 Be3 line above (compulsory for Black if he’s chosen the 4 …c6 move order) or Line A. If he wants Line B2, he need be prepared ‘only’ for the 4 Be3 transposition. That seems simpler, and Black could make things simpler still by eschewing both Line A and White’s other fifth moves with 4 …c6, but then B2 seems much more complex than B1 anyway, and it’d be nice to have a defence to 4 Bg5 that wasn’t so darned theoretical!
So: can we speak of best move orders for Black, either practically or theoretically? Or is it just a question of taste?
Oh – one more thought. In line Ia(i) below, Black used to play 6 …a6!? quite a lot. Is this still considered OK, or if not, why not?
*****
I 5 Qd2 →
(a) 5 …h6 →
(i) 6 Bf4 g5 7 Bg3 Nh5 8 0-0-0 → A
(ii) 6 Bh4 and now:
• 6 …g5 7 Bg3 Nh5 8 0-0-0 → A
• 6 …Nbd7 7 0-0-0 g5 8 Bg3 Nh5 → A (with 8 …Nd7)
• 6 …0-0 7 0-0-0 (7 f4? e5! 8 de Ne4!) c6 8 f4 (8 Bf6 ef 9 h4 b5!?) b5 → B1
• 6 …c6 7 0-0-0 (or 7 f4 0-0 8 0-0-0 b5) 0-0 8 f4 b5 → B1
(b) 5 …c6 6 f4 →
(i) 6 …h6 7 Bh4 0-0 8 0-0-0 b5 → B1
(ii) 6 …0-0 7 Bd3 (7 0-0-0?! b5; 7 Nf3 d5!) b5 8 Nf3 Bg4 → B2
II 5 f4 →
(a) 5 …c6 (5 …h6?! 6 Bf6 or 6 Bh4 0-0 7 Nf3) 6 Qd2 (6 Nf3 d5!) →
(i) 6 …h6 → Ib(i)
(ii) 6 …0-0 → Ib(ii)
(b) 5 …0-0 6 Qd2 (6 Nf3 c5!) →
(i) 6 …h6 7 Bh4 (7 Bf6 ef!?) c6 → Ib(i)
(ii) 6 …c6 → Ib(ii)
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Pirc 4 Bg5: Best Lines/Move Orders (Read 72839 times)
