An English Opening system called the Mikenas-Flohr Variation

[Simon Rogers]

Hi Alan.
John S is absolutely right and talks sense a lot of the time.
Stick to the chess rather than politics.
I stick to mostly chess these days as I got my fingers burnt on the forum a couple of years ago on politics.

[Graham Borrowdale]

what i am thinking is its something to do with my politics and my chess ability being unpopular with a certain russian intelligence bureau

The discussion was quite interesting until this.

As for the Mikenas-Flohr variation, in your original line, (1 c4 Nf6; 2 Nc3 e6; 3 e4 c5; 4 e5 Ng8; 5 Nf3 Nc6; 6 d4 cxd4; 7 Nxd4 Nxe5; 8 Ndb5) 8..a6 immediately is the ‘usual’ move, resulting in a long forcing line after white plays Nd6+ and queens come off. I have had this a few times OTB, plus many in online blitz. Worth noting that after 8 Ndb5 the obvious move 8..d6 allows 9 c5 and white is better, with Bf4 ideas.
Most players meet 3 e4 with d5, with a completely different game.
I can understand Karpov allowing this stuff (3 e4); he was a very principled player, and if black wants to transpose to the Nimzo/Queens Indian then allowing 3 e4 seems to be necessary. Many players of the English as white are happy to play against Kings Indian, etc, but really would rather not meet Nimzo etc, so it can be a bit of a double bluff.

[AlanLlewellyn]

Graham, is after 8...a6 9 Bf4 played because thats what i planned

[AlanLlewellyn]

no i looked at the livebook and an engine 8...a6 9 Bf4 is bad and deserves a ?
thats if Black ignores the a pawn attack and plays a move such a 9...d6
i mean bad for white 9 Nd6+ is equal after 8...a6

[Graham Borrowdale]

The positions after 8..a6 9 Nd6+ are best described as unbalanced, white has some compensation for the sacrificed pawn and let’s say the stronger player will probably win, but I don’t think you can say such positions are equal.

[JustinHorton]

My recollection is that 3...c5 is iffy but that 3...d5 was considered iffier, at least during much of the the Nineties when I was playing 1 c4 (or buying English Opening books because I subsequently played 1 Nf3 and 2 c4). But I believe 3...d5 has been rehabilitated.

[AlanLlewellyn]

its like an improved french defence here is a line which shows how strong it can get for white with the Qg4 move
[Event "Blackpool (u135-intermediate)"] [Site "Blackpool, Imperial Hotel"] [Date "2015.03.08"] [Round "4"] [White "Llewellyn, Alan Mansel"] [Black "Simpson, Derek"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A18"] [WhiteElo "1400"] [BlackElo "1650"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2015.03.06"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] {I had the pleasure of playing Derek Simpson the ex-Union Leader from Unison. He seems a nice bloke.} 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 Bb4 4. e5 Bxc3 5. bxc3 Ng8 6. Qg4 Ne7 $4 7. Qxg7 Ng6 8. Bd3 Rf8 9. Qxh7 $2 (9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. d4 {followed by Bh6 winning the exchange}) 9... Nxe5 10. Ba3 $2 (10. Be2) 10... Nxd3+ 11. Qxd3 d6 12. c5 $2 d5 $2 (12... dxc5 13. Qxd8+ Kxd8 14. Bxc5 Rg8 $14) 13. c6 Rh8 14. cxb7 Bxb7 15. Rb1 Ba6 16. Qd4 Qh4 17. Nf3 Qxd4 18. Nxd4 Bd3 19. Rb7 Kd7 20. f4 Nc6 $1 21. Kf2 $2 (21. Nb3 $16) 21... Na5 22. Rb4 Nc4 23. Nb3 $2 $15 (23. Ra4 Rhb8 24. Nb3 $13) 23... Nxa3 $2 $14 24. Nc5+ Kd6 25. Nxd3 Nc4 26. Ke2 (26. Nb2 $3 Nxd2 $4 27. Rd1 a5 28. Ra4 Nb1 29. Rxb1 $18) 26... Rab8 27. h3 Rb6 28. Rhb1 Rg8 29. Ne1 c5 30. Rxb6+ Nxb6 31. Kf3 f6 32. d4 Rg7 33. Nd3 cxd4 34. cxd4 Nc4 35. Rb8 Nd2+ 36. Kf2 Ne4+ 37. Kg1 Ng3 38. Rf8 Ke7 39. Ra8 Kd6 40. Rf8 Ke7 41. Ra8 1/2-1/2