Smith-Morra Theory Question

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Drake247

Nov 29, 2017

In my book, an explanation against the Smith-Morra Gambit is given and the following is suggested:

Where "Black is under some pressure but has an extra pawn, as is common in the Smith-Morra Gambit." and it seems like a fine position for black.

Stockfish gives both 10... Nge5 and 10... h5 an evaluation of -0.18 at a depth of 38, so both moves can be viewed as equal to one another, from an engine's POV.

However:

An opening database shows 10... h5 has performed much, much better, though a 43 game sample size is pretty small. I'm wondering if the reason it scored so high is because most of the white players didn't respect the rook on h8 enough and went into a line involving 11. g3 a6, 12. hxg4 axb5 where an eventual Nd4 and/or Qb8-Qe5-Qh5 become crushing, or if 10... h5 is that much stronger outright.

What do you think of the position after 10... h5 vs the above continuation?

For those interested, I followed Stockfish's 10... h5 line for a few more moves: (None of the above database's responses to 10... h5 included 11. Qd2. So maybe both 10... h5 and 10... Nge5 are equal, but it's just difficult to find the best responses to 10... h5.)