Michael Ayton wrote on 09/05/19 at 23:26:27:
@ IsaVulpes
Nice post! I'd welcome your guidance on which key lines Barsky is outdated on, plus where to find the best 'updates'. Kasparov?
The easiest points to compare are when I crosscheck with my (more recent) White repertoire books:
Shaw gives the g3 line in the Philidor, and (correctly) notes one should avoid the position after 7.a4 a5 8.0-0 Na6 9.h3 Nb4 10.Be3, due to 10..exd4 11.Nxd4 d5, as played in eg Ni Hua - Franco, 2008, which he gives as a clean equalizer. Instead, he recommends going 9.b3 and developing the Bishop to b2, which maintains White's small edge.
In Barsky, 9.b3 is not mentioned, but even more curiously, the equalizer after 10.Be3 isn't given - instead, he recommends 10...Be6, which SF instantly claims to be close to +1, and which also scores rather poorly (71% for White, out of 7 games).
E:Doublechecked, and Barsky actually gives this exd4 Nxd4 d5 as a sideline which "deserves attention", citing a game from 2009. Remains the question why this isn't the mainline, but at least it's there in some form
In Negi's mainline, the move 12.Nxd4 is mentioned in roundabout half a sentence in Barsky, which is fair enough - can't cover everything; but more crucially, Negi offers a somewhat alternate moveorder, starting with 7.a4 8.h3, rather than 7.Re1.
Barsky gives here "White does not have time.. [..] 7.h3 c6 8.a4 Nxe4! 9.Nxe4 d5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 dxe4 [etc]" in one paragraph. Negi (and modern computers) offers 10.Re1!, which has been seen in 14 games, and scored +11-1=2..
Just like for the options on move 2 (which are strangely ommited in all books on the topic..), I'm not aware of any good & updated sources from the Black side.
My general best guess is that Barsky will be outdated "everywhere" (as it so happens, when you computer checked your lines with.. Rybka
), but in most lines it won't matter much - for one, your opponent is unlikely to learn cutting edge theory against the Philidor of all things by heart, for two in the hyper concrete variations (the g4 pawnsac, the Bxf7 business) theory hasn't really moved on and in other lines you can 'deal with it'.
My best idea (at least that's what I did) is to look up the recommendations in White repertoire books (ie the aforementioned Shaw/Negi), and either figure out your own responses, or use what they give as the most critical attempt for Black
Am not a subscriber to chesspub, but perhaps the Philidor pops up there too now and then? That'd be the premium source, of course.