What's New - July 2003
ScotchAfter a couple of months of the Closed Spanish, I thought I'd get up to date with developments in the lively Scotch. Since its adoption by Kasparov the Scotch has enjoyed a new lease of life, and this appears to be continuing unabated. The strongest players are still attracted to the White side with the theory being ever deepened and enriched. GM Nigel Davies |
Download PGN of July '03 1 e4 e5 games
4...Bc5
            
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After 4...Bc5 White's two most popular choices are still 5.Be3 and 5.Nxc6. After 5.Be3 it is now considered almost mandatory to play 5...Qf6 with a main line being forged after 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 Ne5 8.Be2 Qg6 9.0-0 d6 and now 10.f3 rather than any dubious sacrifice of the e4 pawn (see Pavasovic - Beliavsky). Black seems to be OK here with the lively middlegames offering chances for both sides.
Black's sideline with 6...Qg6 has been receiving more attention and one of the most challenging responses is now thought to be 7.Qf3. Black must pay attention to the fact that he is now threatened with 8.Nb5 as after 8...Bxe3 White can recapture with the queen. In Sutovsky - Hector he forgets about this and gets badly beaten. Of course one might ask how serious a problem these doubled pawns really are.... Robert Zelcic does precisely that in the game Zelcic - Kuba by reviving Jacques Mieses's old 6.Nb5!?. Worth further tests?
Against 5.Nxc6 Black still seems to be doing OK with the 'shattered pawns variation' (5...Qf6 6.Qd2 dxc6 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Qf4 Be6 9.Qxf6 gxf6)
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on the evidence of Haslinger - Lalic. His fast development seems to allow him to hold the balance, though my impression is that it's Black who is on the negative side of the position.
An alternative to 7...Ne7 is 7...Bd4, which continues to attract a strong following. Rather than play the risky 8.f4 White now tends to go for 8.Bc4 (Nataf - Belyavsky) or 8.Bd3 (Rublevsky - Marcelin). The latter probably being White's best in my opinion, with Rublevsky's 10.Qe1 being an interesting new plan. In both cases Black has some activity to compensate for his slighly compromised pawn structure, which is in fact rather typical of the Scotch. But if his activity fizzles out he will be worse.
4...Nf6
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After 4...Nf6 5.Nxc6 the theoretical war continues unabated. In the game Haslinger - Addison we see an alternative to the popular 10...f6 in 10...Qb4+, Black's argument being that he wants to get his pieces out before using pawn levers.
There's also a strong argument for delaying or omitting 8...Ba6 as the bishop can easily become misplaced on this square. In the Mieses Variation Black plays an immediate 8...Nb6, thus maintaining other options for his queen's bishop. In the game Van der Wiel - Van den Doel, Van der Wiel met this with his patented 9.Nc3. In Sutovsky - Ivanisevic White protects c4 anyway with 9.b3. But this allows Black counterplay with ...a7-a5-a4.
4...Qh4
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Personally speaking I have trouble believing the soundness of the move 4...Qh4. The game Van der Wiel - Pliester is a quite serious theoretical tussle with Van der Wiel's 11.Nd4!? finesse causing Black some trouble.
It looks like the Scotch could be with us to stay as the complex positions which arise lead to lively and dynamic chess. Of course it's no longer a low maintainance alternative to the Ruy Lopez as the theory is growing every day.
See you next month!
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Please post your Kingpawn Opening queries on the 1 e4 e5 Forum, or subscribers can write to me at NigelDavies@chesspublishing.com if you have any questions or queries.
Nigel Davies