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1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3

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Avatar of pfren
IM pfren
Jan 11, 2015
0
#21
nobodicos wrote:
clunney wrote:

4. ...Bf5 is actually just fine for Black.  It's one of the main lines.

[...] another possibility is 6. ...Qb6, which is perfectly fine for Black: 7. Nxd5 Nxd5 8. Qxd5 Qb4+ 9. Bd2 Qxb2 and 9. Kd1 are both okay.
 
To summarize: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. Nxd5 Nxd5 8. Qxd5 Qb4+
 
I don't see much counterplay for black: after 9 Bd2 Qxb2 10. Rc1 white has a developed rook, the queen is in the centre and black must do something about its bishop. 10. ... e6 leads to checkmate (11. Rc8). 10 ... Ne6 is followed by the activation of white's bishop 11. Bb5+ cutting the defense of b7: 11. ... Nd7 12. Qxb7 +-. So, according to Stockfish, the only valid move after 10. Rc1 is 10. ... Bd7.

That's right, of course. It's just the fact some people are consultinmg their magical hat, instead of the classics...

Black is closer to being "toast" than "perfectly fine".

Avatar of dpnorman
NM dpnorman
Jan 11, 2015
0
#22

I think I like the 3. Nc3 dxc4 lines better than any of the sidelines available after 4...g6 or 4...a6, unless anyone can convince me otherwise. Of course this is a very old thread, but it's still something I run into periodically in OTB games. I did have one game fairly recently where I gave the Schlecter a try against a ~1500 in a tournament, and made an interesting Bf5 move followed by Bxf5 gxf5, doubling my pawns but stopping white from playing e4. I got a reasonable position but went on to spectacularly throw it away, which was a real shame given that I was a lot higher rated than my opponent. But I do think that while the Schlecter is an okay solution, it's awkward for me to play because of problems developing the c8-bishop.