Theres a Nakamura video about it that is very good

MartinC wrote on 05/24/20 at 09:16:33:


I just discovered (or rediscovered?) the excellent posts on the thread about Esserman's book.

It seems to me that 6Bf4 keeps white in the game (no SMG refutation).

7...b5?! is natural, but 7...Nge7 and 7...d6 are still options. There is a lot to explore here and 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Be2 Nge7 or 7...d6 remains a practical SMG answer, IMO.

A tiny bit careless perhaps

LC0 copes OK with 8 Bf4, but it is more complex than the other lines - 8 Bf4 o-o then obviously 9 Bd6 is at least messy.

9 Qe2 Ng6 10 Bg3 Bxc3 11 bc d6 ^ e5 is the sort of set up that it likes pointing out. It doesn't care if/when white gets d6 back. Not what white wants, I think.

8 Qc2 does at least produce somewhat different looking play (again), as can 8 Qe2.
(There seem to be various set ups with b6, Bb7, Ng6 and retreating the bishop to e7.).

kylemeister wrote on 04/18/21 at 22:30:17:


It looks like a reasonable line for black. Andrew Martin of ChessPublishing addressed this in a game played in 2007.

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cd4 3. c3 dc3 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 Bb4 7. O-O Nge7. He discuss 8Nb5, as played, and states:

"8.Bf4 would be my choice, eyeing d6, and if Bc3 9. bc3 d5 10. Bd3 allows White the use of the two Bishops."

I expect a lot of games will continue with 8Qe2 (previously mentioned on this thread) 0-0 9Rd1.

8Bg5, as previously mentioned, seems to score about 50/50 at this point.

8Qc2 (also previously mentioned) is Marc Esserman's recommendation, pg 194-6. I haven't gone through his analysis yet.

I suspect that white will end up with some, but not full compensation for his pawn, at least according to the engines. White will retain some practical chances.

At a pragmatic level, black probably gains from taking white off SMG autopilot. From white's point of view, black is not playing the open variation system of his choice. In terms of chess evaluation, white retains greater freedom of movement of his pieces, black lags in development, but black remains a pawn up.

MartinC wrote on 04/19/21 at 07:56:52:

Something with Bg5 probably. Again choosing 6...Bb4 will be a matter of personal preference and thorough preparation. I met it once as White and found it easy to play against on my patzer level.
3...Nf6 suits me best as Black.
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I'm not quite sure about Bg5. Black's play with h6 (Bh4), o-o, Bxc3 and d5 does seem quite straightforward and very classical, although no doubt there are some details. The bishop on c4 is rather unfortunate.

Bf4 maybe. I guess that if I was interested in this as white (I'm not!) I'd be thinking about trying to avoid an early Bc4 unless/until black has gone d6. Different problems at the least.

kylemeister wrote on 04/18/21 at 22:30:17:


Interesting. Not wishing to derail the thread, but any idea of when this Shankland Classical Sicilian course is gonna drop? Schedule was for May.

Nice to know I wasn't insane - although it was obviously 99% LC0's ideas

If that really is white's best 8th move then this is a real deterrent to 6 Bc4. Some other moves likely at least better placed in terms of practical chances?

Correction: April 2021