Advance 6. a3 f6!?

Okay, I am certain that some of you are aware of this concept (especially the booked up players), so let me start this with a confession. 

I am not really happy with placing my queen early on b6.  Yes, it is very thematic, but I want to ask some real questions here.  Yes, I am about to get Rybka out to see its opinions on this position, but anyway.  Here is a link to the game: 

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1230100603

I played 5...Bd7 against his 5. Nf3 Advance, and with 6. a3, I decided I really didn't want to play ...Qb6, because I am not really 100% happy with that line (even though I know it is perfectly sound and great and all).  I wanted more out of the position, and opted for the early ...f6 here.  

Of course, I collapsed his center down to an isolated e5 pawn, and then my move g6 (this is just based off of my feel for the position) allowed me simultaneously to prepare castling and pressure his e5 pawn further.  

My choice of gxf5 seemed natural for my style, deciding to further cup his isolani in, while also opening the g-file for pressure against his king.  This position also felt pretty safe from my standpoint, as his bishop on b2 would not be able to access my king as easily.  

...b6 was a prophylactic move against his knight (I think this was obvious), and then I simply prepared my position by Qe7 and then Kh8 (preparing a soon Rg8).  Of course, once I did play ...Rg8, he could have taken on c8, but then I would have had Rxc8 and had control there as well.  

The ending was just a trade-down that gave me a pawn advantage, as well as a rook vs. bishop.  

According to Rybka, going move by move (beginning with ...f6) - it prefers Nh6, but gives ...f6 as flat equal, which I like.

After 7. b4, I played 7...cxd4 auto-move style, but it actually likes fxe5 better.  I have a book by Watson that covers this idea, but in the ...Qb6 variation.  It gave 7...fxe5 as advantageous for Black, but gave a slight advantage back to White after my 7...cxd4.

At move 9, it prefers ...Nh6, with between 1/10 and 2/10 pawn advantage for White.  It thinks my ...g6 idea is slightly less good, giving White a quarter pawn advantage after 10. b5.

At move 14, it prefers ....Rxf5, rather than ...gxf5.  It gives ...Rxf5 as basically equal (with very small pull for Black).  After ...gxf5, it gives a quarter pawn advantage to White. 

At move 16, it prefers ...Qe8.  I played the "auto-move" ...Rc8.  It gives ...Qe8 as +.16 for White, and gives ...Rc8 as a quarter-pawn for White.

At move 17, it prefers ...a6, with +.32 for White.  My ...Qe7 was slightly less preferred, with +.43 for White, due to not preventing the "thematic" b4-b5, it seems (Rybka keeps pointing this idea out over and over).

It really seems that Rybka doesn't care much for my plan at 18...Kh8.  It is really much more concerned first with dealing with queenside issues, advocating either ...a5 or ...Nb8.

Finally!  At move 19, it does like my ...Nxd4 idea.  However, it is torn between ...Rg8 and ...Kg8 on the next move.  I guess I should start shuffling my king around!  :P

On move 21, it prefers either ...Rc5 or ...Rc4 (presumably to play to close that file down), with +.15 for White...but now that it keeps thinking about it, it is starting to show favor to my ...Qh4 idea, which is now +.14 for White!  Yay me :D

It evaluates 22. Nc6 as a blunder for White, giving me up to +2.24 for Black if I play ...Bh6 (which I did).  However, I miss a tactic with 23. Qd4 Rxg2!  This would have given Black up to almost a +6.00 advantage, with a line like 24. Kf1 Qxh2 25. Ke2 Qh5+ 26. Kd3 Qf3+...I think we can see where this is going.

My idea of trading queens is still enough for advantage, although I really need to learn to keep my eyes open for these great sacs!  He should have played 24. Nxd4, but after 24. Bxd4 Bxc1 and the following moves, I end the position with a + 3.50 advantage.  

Lesson here?  The biggest lesson I can learn from this walk-through is the Rxg2 sac that I missed.  That, and the initial ...fxe5 rather than ...cxd4.

However, I am ultimately interested in opinions on this 6.a3 f6!? line (from ...Bd7, as at the moment, I want to steer away from ...Qb6 on move 5).

I like to Ne7 against the advance, are you talking about the immediate c5 line? Ne7 provokes a lot of unsound reactions.

The line is played in the game in the first post, but it is the following:

I would strongly recommend 5...Nh6 rather than 5...Qb6.  I switched to this line about a year ago and it has helped me a lot.  Here are some of the benefits:

-Gets your opponent out of theory, as Qb6 is the most played

-Prepares Nf5 to pressure the d4 pawn

-If White plays mechanically, he often loses a pawn.  For example, 6. Be2/Nf5 7. 0-0? loses a pawn to 7...cxd and 8...Qb6

-It avoids the problem with Ne7, which is the immediate capture on c5

-In some lines (more common in blitz) if white plays a quick dxc5, Black captures with the bishop and can play Ng4!, with a strong attack on f2 (and attacking the probably weak e5 pawn that results after dxc5).  Black can also add Qb6 later

-One downside is that White can take immediately with Bxh6, which messes up Black's pawns.  However, the computer says the position is equal, or even slightly better for black, although some players won't like the doubled h pawns.  In some lines black uses the half open g file for an attack (which also allows the h pawns to be thrown forward) but in other lines he has to play 0-0, which can be nerve-wracking with a bad k-side pawn structure.  Black also gets the bishop pair, can play Qb6 with pressure on b2 and d4, and often plays Bg7 to pressure the center.

-Black probably also needs to keep a bishop or queen on the d8-h4 diagonal.  If the knight gets to f5 white often kicks it with g4, and in most lines the only good move is Nh5, which allows a knight trade.  If there's no piece to defend the h5 square black sometimes has to make an awkward retreat.  However, g4 looks very weakening so even though it's one of white's best moves he often won't make it

GM Simon Willians recommends exactly this move (6..f6) after 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.a3 in his DVD series

He says that after a3 the queen is better placed on c7 in almost every line, and after 7.b4 he suggests the move 7..fxe5 leading to some interesting lines. White's best move now is 8.b5 and now 8..Nxd4!? 9.cxd4 exd4 is playable, sacrificing a knight to get a very strong center. My engine even says that this position is slightly better for black.

Okay, I got in a 17-move checkmate with this line today.  I won't attribute it to anything other than my opponent overlooking my checkmate threat, but up until 12...e4, I had an advantage...and even after 12...e4, I still had a slight advantage according to Fritz!  Here is the game, with my thoughts (and Fritz' ideas):

I did play some pretty bad moves after I lost control of things, fumbling while trying to find an idea.  However, this is the point of post-mortem...to see where I went wrong, and where I can improve.  I think my opening experiment was successful, and possibly part of the reason I secured a good win to begin with - he was probably off-guard from ...f6!

As for my question to the Frenchies - would you prefer my 11...e5, or Fritz's ideas of either ...Qc7 or ...Ne4, and why?