Mikenas Defense:Good or bad?

Personally not a fan of it. Alekhine's games excite me more.

Anyone played this recently?

I played this alot, but eventually gave it up because of the exchange variation 1.d4 Nc6 2.d5! Ne5 (Nb8 might be even stronger) 3.f4 Ng6 4.e4 e5 5.dxe6.

Important that white starts with 3.f4 if he wants to play this way, otherwise 3.e4 gives black 3...e6 4.f4 exd5!!

Black is significantly worse in the 5....fxe6 lines, sound, but barely, and IMO good moves for white are easy to find.

Also, I would never ever consider playing 5...dxe6 and being worse in a queenless middlegame, which is probably black's best try.

Thanks for that response!

Yeah, it does seem tough for black if they play that line.

The knight sacrifice to take the rook line does look interesting.

Do you get the "The knight sacrifice to take the rook line" often?

the dxe6 lines are completely fine for black. GM stevic has a very high winning percentage in the queenless endgame lines. A lot of the difficulties in this line is the lack of material in spelling out the proper formation for black. Not always but often the right formation is bc5, bd7 (to stop na4) nh6, f6, nf7 e5 and if white plays f4-f5, nd6, kc8 b5 and a5. 
in a few sidelines, nf6 is better and those are easier to play. But yes, its a difficult defense to play at a high level. You need to know how to play the nimzowitsch, have a reply for 2.c4 for 2.nf3, the london, tromposwky-esque stuff 2.nc3 , and other sideline for white and the rarely seen labyrithn lines of 2.d5 which are some of the least studied lines of any opening.

its not a rook, its a forced draw line unless white wants to be much worse.
https://lichess.org/uj7VF01e#0
and unfortunately, it doesn't work if white spots the tricky 5.nc3! ng6 6.qxd5. White is better although blacks position is playable.

not only is it very difficult to find lines on the mikenas and must do a lot of independent research but you practically only get to play it sometimes. most players play nf3 on move two or c4 to get their queen pawn game. d5 is about third in popularity and you will barely see it more often than e4. 
so good luck playing a lot of mikenas games to practice your prep. especially if you dont play 1.nc6 exclusively. It really is a defense for pure mavericks only . To give you a better idea, the book Play 1...nc6! which focuses on the nimzowitsch doesnt bother with the mikenas and recommends 1.d5 and then nc6 to avoid the amount of homework you need to make the mikenas work.

There is Schuyler's book though, AFAIK the only quality book to give serious attention to 1...Nc6 2.d5 Ne5. Although he recommends the fxe6 lines

Nah, not very often. As darkunorthodox says, most white players just play 2.c4 or 2.Nf3.

Ah.

I see, thank you.

yes, and its the weakest link in an otherwise magnificent 5 star book. from what i seen in that book, the only lines that dont hold to computer scrutiny are in the fxe6 recommendations of that chapter.
but that book single handedly revived the nimzowitsch defense back from the grave in my eyes. i was pretty miserable when i discovered the early nc6 d6 nf6 bg4 e6 lines were refuted with a timely d5.The nimzo-pirc is pretty respected and easier to play than the standard pirc defense.you completely bypass the austrian attack and the argentine attack (f3 be3 stuff) at the cost of an early nc6

but if you want to make the mikenas work and cant stomach the early d5 lines. play the montevideo retreat nb8! and play it like a pirc/kid. the extra tempo is partially compensated by the release of tension in the position.

https://www.chess.com/game/daily/619359067

My chess game with Mikenas Defense in Opening. I won. Thanks to my opponent for good game.