Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Max Lange Gambit Revived

Max Lange Gambit, after 5.d4!?

I have posted my notes on Movsesian - Adams, Corus 2009, which features two Super-GMs slugging it out deep into the theory of the distinctly 19th Century Max Lange Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d4!?)  I was not surprised to see this line revived, even at the highest levels, given recent analysis by GM Lev Gutman in Kaissiber #22 through #25 (discussed here) and GM John Emms in Dangerous Weapons: 1.e4 e5 (which I reviewed here), both of which nicely acknowledge my own contributions in "The Modern Horowitz Variation of the Max Lange Attack."  As I indicate in my notes to the game, all signs point toward continued interest in this variation and the related Max Lange Attack.

4 comments:

Glenn Wilson said...

Cool. Thanks for this. I'll may have to give this a try.

I have been looking at unusual variations in the Max Lange Attack lately and this fits right in.

flynn said...

hey michael, great blog!
i would like to know what is your opinion about 7. nc3 in the anti max lange. is it playable for white?

Michael Goeller said...

I think White has easy equality against the Canal line after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4! 6.Re1 d5 7.Nc3!? dxc4 (easiest) 8.Rxe4+ Be6 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Rxd4 Qf6. He may have more -- I have not looked at it. Max Zavanelli somewhere remarks that he used to play this but his opponents started winning all of the time so he stopped.

I am waiting for Lev Gutman's analysis of the Anti-Lange lines in Kaissiber, due out soon, to see what he has come up with. It would be great if you could get something out of these lines for White, but I am doubtful. I do have some analysis at the blog.

flynn said...

thanks for your help!

i usually play 2 12 games online and i started to play 7. nc3 because i experienced the same with 7. bxd5 what your friend had with 7. nc3. i've lost a lot of games and i wanted to try something new. and in a lot of cases 7. nc3 worked.

however a few days ago one of my opponents played 7. - dxc3 8. bxd5 f5 and i couldnt find a win and resigned a couple of moves later. now i dont know what to do. i really love the max lange attack with both colours but i suffer against the anti variation.