Meeting the Panov-Botvinnik Attack with the Albin Counter-Gambit
Before doing my ChessBase show last night, I ran a private broadcast with an audience of one - myself - just to test the system to see if everything would (hopefully) work. While doing so, I tinkered around with a few moves, and in the process came up with something pretty interesting! In the position normally reached via a Panov-Botvinnik Attack against the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd4 cxd4 4.c4), a spontaneous mindstorm produced the move 4...e5!?
Not the usual move in the position, to put it mildly, and not what you'd expect from the typical Caro-Kann player. The more interesting question, however, is this: is it good? Well, it depends on what one means by "good". I can't guarantee that Black can equalize, but I don't see any way for White to get a clear advantage, either, and a lot of natural lines gives Black easy equality.
It's not quite a novelty, but it was only played five times (in about 3 million games) in the 2007 MegaBase. The bad news: after 5.dxe5 d4 6.Nf3 Nc6, we've transposed into an unpopular line of the Albin Counter-Gambit (normally reached via 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 c5 [4...Nc6 is overwhelmingly more popular] 5.e3 Nc6 6.exd4 cxd4). Still, it doesn't seem to me that Black is in particularly bad shape, and after the main move here, 7.Bd3, Black is only slightly worse after 7...Nxe5.
Should you try this? If you're over 1800 and in a tournament game with serious money on the line, probably not. But below that rating, and for almost anyone in blitz, I'd say to go ahead - I'm going to! Black has several important practical advantages: (1) familiarity, (2) the element of surprise, and (3) the fact that 1.e4 players don't generally have much specific knowledge or experience in dealing with the Albin.
Here are some lines to get you started:
5.dxe5 d4
(1) 6.a3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 (7.b4 Bxb4+ 8.axb4 Qxa1 9.Na3 Qc3+ 10.Qd2 a6 11.Nf3 Nc6 isn't entirely clear, but it's White who has to do the proving) 7...Nc6 8.Ngf3 Bg4 9.Be2 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Qxe5+=.
(2) 6.Nf3 Nc6 and now:
(2a) 7.g3 (Another typical anti-Albin reaction, but nothing special here.) 7...Nxe5! 8.Nxe5 Qa5+=.
(2b) 7.Bf4 Bb4+ (7...Nge7!?) 8.Nbd2 Nge7 9.Bd3 (9.a3!?) Ng6 10.Bg3 Bg4 11.Qa4 O-O (=) 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.O-O Bxd2 14.Nxd2 Be2 15.Rfe1 d3 (=) was the continuation in Alekhine-Scholtz, Los Angeles 1932, eventually won by Black.
(2c) 7.Bd3 Nxe5 (This restores material equality and might be objectively best, but 7...Bb4+ 8.Nbd2 Nge7 is also worthy of consideration and more Albin-like.) I offer one more subdivision:
(2c1) 8.Nxe5 Qa5+ 9.Nc3!? dxc3 (9...Qxe5+ 10.Ne2 +=) 10.O-O +=
(2c2) 8.Qe2 f6 9.Nxe5 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Qxe5 11.Be4 +=
Give it a try, and let me know how it goes!
Not the usual move in the position, to put it mildly, and not what you'd expect from the typical Caro-Kann player. The more interesting question, however, is this: is it good? Well, it depends on what one means by "good". I can't guarantee that Black can equalize, but I don't see any way for White to get a clear advantage, either, and a lot of natural lines gives Black easy equality.
It's not quite a novelty, but it was only played five times (in about 3 million games) in the 2007 MegaBase. The bad news: after 5.dxe5 d4 6.Nf3 Nc6, we've transposed into an unpopular line of the Albin Counter-Gambit (normally reached via 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 c5 [4...Nc6 is overwhelmingly more popular] 5.e3 Nc6 6.exd4 cxd4). Still, it doesn't seem to me that Black is in particularly bad shape, and after the main move here, 7.Bd3, Black is only slightly worse after 7...Nxe5.
Should you try this? If you're over 1800 and in a tournament game with serious money on the line, probably not. But below that rating, and for almost anyone in blitz, I'd say to go ahead - I'm going to! Black has several important practical advantages: (1) familiarity, (2) the element of surprise, and (3) the fact that 1.e4 players don't generally have much specific knowledge or experience in dealing with the Albin.
Here are some lines to get you started:
5.dxe5 d4
(1) 6.a3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 (7.b4 Bxb4+ 8.axb4 Qxa1 9.Na3 Qc3+ 10.Qd2 a6 11.Nf3 Nc6 isn't entirely clear, but it's White who has to do the proving) 7...Nc6 8.Ngf3 Bg4 9.Be2 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Qxe5+=.
(2) 6.Nf3 Nc6 and now:
(2a) 7.g3 (Another typical anti-Albin reaction, but nothing special here.) 7...Nxe5! 8.Nxe5 Qa5+=.
(2b) 7.Bf4 Bb4+ (7...Nge7!?) 8.Nbd2 Nge7 9.Bd3 (9.a3!?) Ng6 10.Bg3 Bg4 11.Qa4 O-O (=) 12.Bxg6 hxg6 13.O-O Bxd2 14.Nxd2 Be2 15.Rfe1 d3 (=) was the continuation in Alekhine-Scholtz, Los Angeles 1932, eventually won by Black.
(2c) 7.Bd3 Nxe5 (This restores material equality and might be objectively best, but 7...Bb4+ 8.Nbd2 Nge7 is also worthy of consideration and more Albin-like.) I offer one more subdivision:
(2c1) 8.Nxe5 Qa5+ 9.Nc3!? dxc3 (9...Qxe5+ 10.Ne2 +=) 10.O-O +=
(2c2) 8.Qe2 f6 9.Nxe5 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Qxe5 11.Be4 +=
Give it a try, and let me know how it goes!