ErictheRed wrote on 02/13/17 at 23:06:44:
I've always been skeptical of Black's position here, and thought that claiming that this leads to equality had more to do with Black repertoire books making it seem as though it's no big deal. But everything I know about chess says that White must be better here, as Black doesn't have the dynamic play that he does in the Kalashnikov or Sveshnikov.
Not hugely better or anything, but it's hard to believe that White doesn't get his normal opening advantage at the very least. Do you know what the equalizing line(s) are supposed to be?
Here are some bits I had seen, from sources that aren't actually recent, but more recent than Kavalek's note, which was in the 1970s.
4. Nd5 d6 5. Nec3 Nge7 6. Bc4 Nd5 7. Nd5 Be7 8. d3 O-O 9. O-O Be6 10. f4 ef4 11. Bf4 Ne5 12. Kh1 Bg5 13. Be5 de5= Rublevsky-Ernst 1992
4. Nd5 Nf6 5. Nec3 Nd5 6. Nd5 Be7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. a4 Be6 10. d3 Rb8 11. f4 ef4 12. Bf4 Bg5 13. Qh5 h6 14. Ba2 Bf4 15. Rf4 Qg5 16. Qg5 hg5 17. Rf2 Kh7 18. h3 Kg6 19. c3 Rh8= Short-Nataf 2000
4. Nd5 Nge7 5. Nec3 Nd5 6. Nd5 Be7 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2 h5 9. d3 Bg4 10. f3 Be6 11. c3 h4= Vallejo-Nataf 2001
4. Nd5 Nge7 5. Nec3 Nd5 6. Nd5 Be7 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2 h5 9. h4 Be6 10. d3 Bd5 11. ed5 Nb8 12. f4 Nd7 13. O-O g6 (Spassky-Fischer 1992) 14. f5+=, but 9...Bg4 10. f3 Be6 11. d3 Qd7 12. Be3 Bd8= with the idea of ...Ne7
Kavalek mentioned a game Hort-Spassky (and that Nec3 was followed by Bc4). I can't find that game at the moment, but now I'm curious.