Why not 3..Bc5 and have a normal Italian game? lol
Losing a tempo in the Hungarian Defense
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Randomemory wrote:
Why not 3..Bc5 and have a normal Italian game? lol
Just taste I guess. 3...Bc5 feels awfully "static" to me, where 3...Nf6 on the other hand feels too speculative after 4. Ng5. I've played 3...d6 for 15 years, it gives White a lot of opportunity to play poorly, just one for instance being 4. d3?! Na5 (also I see a lot of 4. h3?! from class C players and below, when I respond with 4...f5) but if he plays 4. d4 it's too much of an uphill battle. So I'll try on 3...Be7 for a while
I've not been especially happy with what I've been playing against the Italian Game (3...d6) and so literally just today decided to look into the Hungarian Defense instead: http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/C50_Italian_Game_Hungarian_Defense
So far that has only entailed looking up lines in Megabase and seeing how my computer engine evaluates resultant positions. And one thing about the computer, it doesn't let a concept such as losing a tempo dissuade it if it deems it the strongest line.
Consider the following "tabiya" of sorts, which can actually be reached by move orders other than the Hungarian, because there are just 1500 or so games in Megabase from that move order with White playing 5. Nxd4, but about 1700 games in the following position with Black to play on move 7.
The tempo-losing 7...Bc5 figured in just a couple dozen of those 1700 or so games, with the oldest three seemingly being the only ones at the master level, St. Amant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Charles_Fournier_de_Saint-Amant) and Rosenthal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rosenthal) having tried 7...Bc5 in the 1850s/60s
The position after 7...Bc5 resembles one from the Scotch where Black plays ...Qf6 and ...Bc5 (in either order). The differences are that Black has developed his kingside more quickly, but because ...Qf6 is ruled out and White's played Nc3 anyway, White need not consider c3. Instead his options look like some other comparable ones from the Scotch, 8. Be3 or 8. Nb3. After the former Black's best choices seem to be 8...Ne5 (also typical in the above-referenced variation of the Scotch, if White plays Bc4) and 8...Bb6, and after the latter 8...Bb4 or 8...Bb6.
Anyway wondering if this might be worth a look as Black especially if you play the related line in the Scotch. I used to but have switched to 4...Nf6 because I don't like how ...Qf6 makes it hard for Black to develop his kingside quickly.