TopNotch wrote on 02/19/22 at 04:49:15:


Hodgson's book from 1997 says of 4 ... Bf5,
"It was only after this move that I lost much of my enthusiasm for the h4 Tromp."

He also gives 4 ... c5 a ! "although it has hardly been played."

The Killer Trompowsky does cover 3 ... d5 and 4 ... c5, btw. Not in huge detail, it's true. But it is there.

Wintermondnacht wrote on 02/18/22 at 11:40:20:


Agreed, Plichta and Williams are both very entertaining presenters. Regarding the chess 6.dxc5 has not received many practical tests, then again neither has 4...c5 for that matter. Despite 6.dxc5 being the preferred engine choice I don't find it is too convincing.

I was more curious about why 4...c5 isn't played more often than anything else, but that could be due to the overall unpopularity of 3.h4 in the first place. As far as I know though 4...Bf5 is still the approved and comfortable equalizer against 'The Raptor'  and nothing I have seen in Killer Tromp or Break the Rules after 5.Nxe4 Bxe4 6.f3 h6! convinces me otherwise. The funny thing is that Avrukh published that antidote back in 2012! in his book Beating 1.d4 Sidelines and it still holds up well today, and I can't swear to this but I think this same remedy was also offered by Joe Gallagher in his Beating the Anti-King's Indians book from 1996! citing none other than the maestro himself Hodgson - Salov, 1993. 

RoleyPoley wrote on 11/25/21 at 13:52:40:


Still overpriced if you ask me.

winawer77 wrote on 11/22/21 at 10:18:35:


So he is definitely aware of the line, so no excuse to not analyze it in his course.

RoleyPoley wrote on 11/22/21 at 09:15:10:


There is, and Plichta covers 3.h4 as well, so some real overlap here. Was thinking of getting the Killer Tromp course, too as its an opening close to my heart. Palliser is an excellent author, so as long as he is providing the core analysis then I'll have confidence in it. Without Palliser's name attached to it, I wouldn't go anywhere near it.

Regarding, 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. h4 d5 4.Nd2 c5! Plichta also does not cover this (I have his course, too).

Looking in Lichess I did find the below game, but whether this is recommended in the course is another matter. It quickly went downhill for White mainly due to 8.Bxf6, whereas 8.Bb5+ would have been fine.

[Event "Rated Blitz game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/L2o2lsiE"]
[Date "2021.10.30"]
[White "GingerGM"]
[Black "shahinlorpari"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2632"]
[BlackElo "2772"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. h4 d5 4. Nd2 c5 5. Nxe4 dxe4 6. d5 Nd7 7. e3 Nf6 8.
Bxf6 exf6 9. Ne2 Bd6 10. Nc3 f5 11. a4 O-O 12. h5 Be5 13. h6 g6 14. Qd2 Bd7 15.
Bc4 Rb8 16. d6 Qb6 17. O-O-O Qb4 18. Ba2 b5 19. a5 Qxa5 20. Kb1 Qb4 21. f4 exf3
22. gxf3 Rb6 23. f4 Rxd6 24. Bd5 Rxd5 25. Qxd5 Bxc3 26. Qb3 Bc6 27. bxc3 Qxb3+
28. cxb3 Bxh1 29. Rxh1 Rd8 30. Kc2 Kf8 31. Ra1 Rd7 32. Ra6 Ke7 33. Rc6 c4 34.
bxc4 bxc4 35. Rxc4 a5 36. Rc5 Ra7 37. Kb3 Kd6 38. Re5 Re7 39. Rxe7 Kxe7 40. Ka4
f6 41. Kxa5 g5 42. c4 g4 43. c5 g3 44. Kb6 g2 0-1

They did it on GingerGM rather than Chessable so as to do less work and avoid the inevitable forum reviews?

Thoughts?

Edit: I bet you a million pounds that the following line isn't considered for black - 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. h4 d5 4.Nd2 c5!

The latest GingerGM opening video is out covering the Trompovsky. Palliser has again helped with this, and it features an interview with Hodgson as an extra.

The line vs Ne4 is h4. I'm a bit surprised at that as that was the line given in the Chessable course and I didn't think it was theoretically as good as other options for white?