MacQueen - Edwards

[Calum MacQueen]

Bb3

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 *[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> Tubs thinks he is too important to write a full post on 6. Bb3. <<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 *[/pgn]

Spoiler ----> Sigh. He's going to play a Marshall if I let him. Well, maybe I should let him for entertainment value and I have picked up a few ideas in it. Okay, so I can either decide not to play it now with d3 or maybe d4. Problems is I know literally nothing about d4 and d3 doesn't inspire confidence even though top players have previously played this. Think Gata Kamsky played like this once; the idea is to swing the knight to g3 before playing d4 so the knight doesn't get in the way of white's pieces in the center. But a tempo is a tempo and probably isn't much/anything for white.
Why didn't I play 1.d4? 1.e4 is rubbish.
Right, I'll play an anti-Marshall. Not sure about a4 or h3 but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. <-----Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O *[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> Continuing with my plan. Will be interesting to see whether he allows a Marshall with 8. c3 or goes into an anti-Marshall line. <<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 *[/pgn]

Spoiler---> Bah. Guess it's an anti-Marshall then. It's probably not a good idea to take him on in his own territory when I know very little about it. Of course Clement Sreeves would have played 8.c3 in a heartbeat because it's "principled", whatever that means. Now I'd just like to get involved in a standard Lopez effort with many plans and options for both sides. <----Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 *[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> So he played 8. h3 - the anti-Marshall line.

My response 8...d5 potentially deserves a question mark. 8...d5? When playing at Hastings this year I looked into this as a possible reply to 8. h3. I came to the conclusion that there isn't quite sufficient compensation to claim it's equal. White is better. However, it's very much a novelty and I'm hoping he won't be able to find one of the lines I found that gives white a pleasant position. If this were a tournament situation I would definitely go for the more modest 8...d6.

Perhaps he'll think I have played this move by accident and that I assumed he had gone c3.

The whole idea of playing d5 now is that after the normal Marshall exchanges: 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 we go 11...Nb6!? We have some pretty cool counter-play through c5 and in particular, unlike the Marshall, black's light squared bishop finds a wonderful square on b7.

If he goes 12. d4?! as though it's a Marshall main line... then black has 12...c5! immediately returning material equality with a nice position as c3 is the only reasonable response and after exchanging Bf6 is looming before winning the pawn on d4. <<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 d5 9. exd5[/pgn]

Spoiler ---> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I could have sworn I stopped this nonsense. Sigh, okay. Let's think about this rationally. I've made a weakness by h3 so I can't do any stuff with g3 after black goes Qh4. The natural line to compare this to is the 8.a4 anti-Marshall line where 8...d5 is a move there.
So lets figure out the differences. By the length of his spoiler (equivalent to thought) I'd guess this isn't some kind of theory. Which implies I might have a refutation here. Time to get a think on.
All seem to be negative... I've made a weakness and I don't have any queenside play. Blimey, maybe this is just a good idea. The more I look at it the more I think I'm going to get battered. I think in the a4 line though black doesn't take on e5 after 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 and instead prefers Nd4. This is promising news, my Bb3 is better protected here and I can take back with the a-pawn. I don't believe in 10...Nd4, intuition says there is something a little squint with that. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So onto 10...Nxe5. It certainly makes more sense than against 8.a4 as that h3 weakness could come back to haunt me. so 10...Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12.Nc3 looks logical. Then 12...Nxc3 (don't see much else? everything looks a bit suspicious) 13. bxc3 Bd6 14. Re1 Qh4 15. Qf3. Ahh yes. That looks more like it. Then h3 is useful as there is no Bg4. Maybe this is the bust then? The more I look at it the more I'm liking it. He's got no good square for his light bishop and he can't batter the f-pawn down because it's pinned. It'll also take two moves to get me on the e-file by which time I can get d3 Bd2 in. Maybe he'll have a go with 15...g5? And if 16. Qxa8 Bxh3 17.Qf3 might be good for me as 17...Bg4 can be met by 18.g3. This g3 idea is actually pretty strong. Black might get in a g5-g4-Bxg4 but then g3 pops up again.
Panic over. Let's get that pawn taken. <------ Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> Judging by Calum's lengthy spoiler I can only assume he's picking holes in my previous move.

I think the critical move will be his choice on move 12.
<<Spoiler here

[Calum MacQueen]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5[/pgn]

Spoiler---> The more I think about this the more I think I'm close to a pawn up here. Qf3 and g3 seem to hold things together quite often. In terms of this move, I've got to snaffle that pawn. No real other option. <---Spoiler

[Jonathan Edwards]

[pgn]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. h3
d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5[/pgn]

Spoiler here>> As discussed before... normal exchanges seen in a Marshall.

It's interesting to consider that unlike the Marshall, this position white has h3 played, and his pawn is on c2.
Of course, this allows him quick development for the Knight - but his Bishop is somewhat restricted after the c-pawn push: c7-c5-c4.
<<Spoiler here