9.Nf3 is the main move i think, and is played by gms (don't have database access atm).
9.h4 is as good as 9.Nf3 though, but more of an engine continuation.
€: the 9.Nh3 idea is played after 8.Be2 h6, 9.Nh3...
TKD: 8.Bd3 is this pawnsac sound?
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You can find 11...f5 played numerous times in most available sources (e.g. Chessbase Online Database). Black seems doing fine in that line.
9.h4 is less of an issue. Black has an excellent game in three different ways, but the clearest is 9...Bc5! introduced into practice by a former pupil of mine (GM Stelios Halkias).
against 9.h4 whats the point of the immediate 9... Bc5?
i would excpect it to transpose into lines that are reached after 9...Nf4, 10.Bf1 Bc5?
Iuvavum wrote:
against 9.h4 whats the point of the immediate 9... Bc5?
i would excpect it to transpose into lines that are reached after 9...Nf4, 10.Bf1 Bc5?
The main point of 9...Bc5 is the nice (no doubt computer-analysed) variation 10.Qf3 (the main reason of maintaining the knight at g5 is an attack at f7,h7) 10...f5! 11.Bxf5 0-0! 12.Bxh7+Kh8 13.Nf7+ Rxf7 14.Qxf7 Nf4, where white has to return material immediately by 15.Qg8+ to avoid instant disaster, and the position becomes a mess - I believe Black has a slight advantage, and white is not allowed even a slight slip.
I have analyzed the very fashionable line in the TKD defence, after which white plays 8.Bd3, and came up with an interesting pawn sacrifice on move 11... f5.
From the analysis i have done so far it seems to be quite playable, and I believe if a white player is confronted with it otb for the first time not at all easy to play, the question now is if it is entirely sound to play?