| | Mr. Danecki asked:
I was looking at your article on the ALEKHINE'S DEFENSE, FOUR PAWNS
with 5...g5!?. I've played that on a number of occasions with good
results, both OTB and postal/e-mail but was concerned when I bought my
son the book STARTING OUT: ALEKHINE'S DEFENSE. In that book, the line
runs just as your main line runs until the 8th move when instead of
either 8.Qe2 or 8.Kf2, white plays 8.Be2 (after 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4
d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 g5 6.exd6 Qxd6 7.c5 Qe6+). I've looked at the line
with Fritz 9 and so far have only been able to limit the damage to
about +.50 in the evaluation window. Does 8.Be2 seem like a serious
threat to the 5...g5 lines as far as black is concerned?
IS 8.Be2 A SERIOUS THREAT TO BLACK'S SYSTEM?
Silman replies:
Though the Alekhine's Defense is sound enough (though one well known IM
told me that it's the only main line opening that doesn't equalize for
Black!), 5 g5!? vs. the Four Pawns is one of those fun but almost
certainly dubious tries that will give you a good deal of pleasure for
a while, but will eventually fall on its face. It's extremely doubtful
that such a move can hold up to careful scrutiny.
My postal database is a couple years old, so I might be missing a key
game(s) in this line, but it seems to me that the word is out on 8.Be2
and Black is scrambling to survive.
In a nutshell, this seems to be where things stood before the shelf life of my database ran out:
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 g5 6.exd6 Qxd6 7.c5 Qe6+ 8.Be2 Nd5 9.fxg5 and now: A) 9...Ne3, B) 9...Bg7.
A) 9...Ne3!?
Leaping into e3 while the leaping is good!
10.Bxe3 Qxe3 11.Nf3 Bg7 with some long-term positional compensation on the dark squares.
THE CALM, POSITIONAL APPROACH
Schirmer, the black system's main advocate, drew a postal game vs. Andre in 1996 with 9 Ne3.
B) 9...Bg7 10.Nc3 Nc6 11.Nf3 0-0 12.Qd2!
12.0-0 Ne3 is thought to be fine for Black, with the game K Andre
Reichert, corr. 1996 apparently verifying this assessment: 13.Bxe3
Qxe3+ 14.Kh1 Nxd4 15.Bc4 Nf5 16.Rc1 c6 17.Na4 Qf4 18.Nd4 Qxd4 19.Qxd4
Bxd4 20.Rcd1 e5, 0-1.
However, White doesn't need to become hysterical after 12.0-0 Ne3. For
example, 13.d5!? is interesting: 13...Nxd1 14.dxe6 Nxc3 15.exf7+ Rxf7
16.bxc3 Bxc3 and the game was eventually drawn in Manfred-Schirmer,
corr. 1991. Another serious thought is to give up the Exchange by
13.Qd3!?
12...Rd8
12...Nxc3, seen in the game Kranzl-Baumgardt, corr. 2000, fared as well
as caged/bound/tranquilized quail do against a rifle toting Cheney:
13.bxc3 Qd5 14.0-0 e5 15.Bb2 exd4 16.cxd4 Bg4 17.Bd1! Qd7 18.Ba4 Rad8
19.Kh1 Rfe8 20.Qf2, 1-0.
12...Rd8 creates immediate pressure against d4 and leads to highly
complicated play. I doubt if it will hold up, but at least the quail
will go down pecking!
13.0-0 Ndb4 14.Nb5 Qe4
TO THE DEATH!
Schirmer has done incredibly well with 5...g5 over the years, but one of
his worst moments was seen in the following game: 14...Rd7? (Much too
slow) 15.a3 Nd5 16.Bc4 b6 17.Nc3 Na5 18.Ba2 c6 19.b4 Nb7 20.Re1 Qg6
21.Bb1 Qh5 22.Nxd5, 1-0, Scheithauer-Schirmer, corr. 1993.
The more combative 14...Qe4 bravely leaps into the fire, though it's not clear who is going to get burned.
15.Nxc7 Nxd4 16.Bc4
The big moment in the game. 16.Nxd4!? is critical.
16...Bh3!
YOU CAN'T ACCUSE THIS STUFF OF BEING BORING!
17.Nxa8
17.Nxd4 Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Be5 19.Qe2 Qxe2 20.Bxe2 Rac8 seems okay for black.
17...Nxf3+ 18.Rxf3 Rxd2 19.Bxf7+ Kh8 20.Bxd2 Bd4+ 21.Kh1 Bxg2+ 22.Kxg2
Qe2+ 23.Kg3 Qxd2 24.Kh3 Be5 25.Raf1 Nd3 26.Bc4 Nf4+ 27.Kg4 Qd7+ 28.Kh4
Qd4 29.Rxf4 Bxf4 30.b3 Qe5 31.Kh3 Qxg5, 0-1, J Perez L Vidal, corr.
2002.
Fans of this line are welcome to share their games/views/opinions with us.
|
