7.Bxc6+ is premonition of defeat. 7.Nxe5 and white has still some life, although black is obviously better after Qg5 (Qd5 looks drawish).

@ Impfren and Moses: Thank you for correcting my analysis. I wish I had more to contribute, but to tell you the truth I intend to play just play 4.Nc6 and give that 7...Ne7!? line a whirl when I get the chance.

Thanks pfren I'd known about 7...Nb4 but not 7...Ne7 and I definitely think I like it, only two ways for White to respond without handing Black the advantage, either 8. c3 or 8. Bd3, both to avoid Black's threat of ...f5 and ...e4

It's surprising that you would know about 7...Nb4 (which I suggested in a thread a while back on this opening) but not the more normal 7...Ne7.

I remember my older ChessBaseLight2009 (premium, with online database access, and with Fritz6 engine), on my older laptop, suggesting 7...Nb4 as a top move.  It seemed better than 7...Bd6 but complicated.  7...Ne7 seems much more straightforward and a nice place in my opening repertoire tree to just stop so I can move on to other lines I'm more likely to encounter.

Hi Kat.:-) How are you again?

My question is: Have you played mainline? How much experience with it do you have? Why do you not like it? Why is Bc4 your only choice?