My review? <For Sasquatch lovers only>

Mebbe <Captain> would like it.

<tea> Yes, as a fellow <Commonwealther> I realize I should be quaffing tea as well, but unfortunately it contains <tannin> which makes me Ralph (upchuck)-- literally.

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I don't like this as much as the position resulting from 8.f3 Qb6 9.fxg4 Qxd4 10.Bd3, because there White doesn't have the immediate Be3, driving our Queen back, and Black could play 10...e6 and 11..Qb6 without a problem. Here, after 10...e6 11.Be3 Qb4 and I don't like having wasted so many moves with the Queen, we are behind in development. While if we try 10...Qb6 11.Nd5 drives us back.

Although, rules are meant to be broken, right? After 8.h3 Qb6 9.hxg4 Qxd4 10.Bd3 e6 11.Be3 Qb4 12.Qd2 Ne5 13.f3 Bd7 14.O-O-O Rc8 (from the aforementioned <Aleksieva-Petrenko>, which I've added to my profile), Black looks OK:

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Our king will be in the center while we attack. I'll wade through some Kasparov games and see what I can find.

Hats off to <TTLump> for digging up the game eh?

So does this mean you are also leaning to 8. ...Qb6?

<Alek-Pet> game, Black delivered a withering Queenside attack.. A case of active pieces in dangerous places being more decisive, at least in the case of this game, than quicker development?

If we delay castling, as was the case in that game too, White can't do much with the h-file, at least our King is somewhat safer at the moment. I wonder, whether White can, in an appropriate moment, try f4-f5, before we can do something with b5-b4, a5 etc, we should always be on the lookout.

I was also looking at more obscure lines, like the sacrifice of the g4-pawn (I couldn't help it, lol), with something like 13.O-O-O Nxg4. I was at first a bit worried about something like 14.Rde1 Nxe3 15.Rxe3 Be7 16.Rg3, but I think we're fine after 16...Bf6.

I also tried 16.e5 (trying to prevent Bf6) d5 17.Rg3 d4 18.Ne4 Qxd2 19.Kxd2 and I think White will manage to win the d4-pawn back. 16...dxe5 17.Rg3 g6 18.Qh6 or 17...Kf8 18.Rxg7 Kxg7 19.Qh6 Kg8 20.Bxh7 or 17...Bf6 18.Qe3 (with the idea of Ne4) e4 19.Bxe4 Bxc3 20.Qxc3 Qxc3 21.Rxc3 and although we are a pawn up, we are a bit tied up at the moment.

What if instead White tries 11.O-O? We could again try 11...Be7 12.Be3 Qb4 13.Qd2 Ne5 and it seems 14.f3 is more or less forced.

After 8...Qb6, here is just one possible continuation.

9.hxg4 Qxd4
10.Qxd4 Nxd4
11.Bd3 Bxg4
12.f3 Bd7
13.Be3 Nc6

leading to this position:

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True, but we maybe need to worry about white opening up the centre. Then our king doesn't seem to have anywhere to go.

The first thing I noticed was a sacrifice (duh) 12...Nxf3 or Bxf3. We get 3 pawns for the piece, but the question is, do we have enough compensation. Mathematically speaking we do, but that's not always the case. We have 2 passed pawns (g and h)

Also, I considered 12...Be6 to prevent Nd5, but we hinder the e-pawn and need to develop the other bishop via g6 and Bg7.

Now, if 14.Nd5, we can simply play 14...Rc8 and if 15.Bb6 e6 16.Nc7 Ke7 and the knight has nowhere to go.

While if 15.Nb6 Rb8 we seem kind of tied up. White would likely continue with a4-a5. Maybe we can try Nc6-e7-c8 and exchange the knight on b6? Like 14.Nd5 Rc8 15.Nb6 Rb8 16.a4 e6 17.a5 Ne7 and now for example 18.b4 Nc8 but it all seems very slow, White can begin building up with b4, c4, b5 etc. We have to find an adequate response to <14.Nd5 and 15.Nb6> (not necessarily with 14...Rc8, although 14...Kd8 seems worse to me, 14...O-O-O is interesting)

After 14.Bb6, we can simply play 14...e6, I don't see why not.

While if 15.Nb6 Rb8 we seem kind of tied up. White would likely continue with a4-a5.>

after 15.Nb6 Rb8, why wouldn't White just play 16.0-0-0, and now I see all sorts of tactical potential based on White's control of the center, the rook on the half-open d-file, the overworked Black King (protecting the Bishop and the f-pawn), the threat of c4, c5, Bc4, etc. etc.

once again, I don't want to play this position as black!

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Here is one possible continuation after 14...O-O-O

15.Bb6 Re8
16.Nc7 Rd8
17.Nxa6 bxa6
18.Bxa6+ Kb8
19.Bxd8 Nxd8

and we reach this position

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and I don't see any hope for black at all, so probably instead of 17...bxa6, Black should play 17...Re8, then followed by 18.Nc7 Rd8
19.Nd5 Re8

and White has the pawn back with a huge lead in development.

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White could play 13.a3 Qa5 (13...Qxb2?? 14.Ra2 ) 14.Be2 Bd7 15.f4 and the knight has to retreat. It's hard to see any good point in Black's position.

And <TTLump> made an excellent analysis of how White has compensation even if they decide to sacrifice the g4 pawn: 8...Qb6 9.hxg4 Qxd4 10.Qxd4 Nxd4 11.Bd3 Bxg4 12.f3 Bd7 13.Be3 Nc6 14.Nd5. I don't like Black's position in any of his two latest diagrams.

I'm not going to complain if we play Nf6 and go into a <Schveningen> a tempo up-- that's good I think.

But I'm still going to push for the most aggressive moves possible unless they can be PROVEN unsound.

Let us not be afraid to risk-- Especially since we already know that they seem to be quite afraid to risk.

I mean come on, they avoided pinning the Knight in the first place, allowing Ng4-- I'm sure they looked at many of the same games as we did, maybe all of them, and didn't like the Kingside attack black can get from 6.Bg5..

How about this line...
8...Qb6 9.hxg4 Qxd4 10.Qxd4 Nxd4 11.Bd3 Bxg4 12.f3 Bd7 13.Be3 Ne6 14.Nd5 g6 15.Nb6 Rd8 16.0-0-0 Bg7 17.f4 Nc5 with the idea Bc6.

8...Qb6 9.hxg4 Qxd4 10.Bd3 e6 11.Be3 Qb4 12.Qd2 Ne5 13.a3 Qa5 (13...Qxb2?? 14.Ra2 ) 14.Be2 <Be7> 15.f4 Nd7

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<Jessica> I don't agree we have to choose the aggressive line unless it's proven unsound. I would say "unless it's proven inferior".

And btw for my definition of unsound - which doesn't mean losing on the spot - ...Qb6 IS unsound. While the lines with the sacrifice in g4 are open to debate, I still don't see anything good for Black after Bd3 if White plays as I earlier suggested (and not as in the only game we found which we shouldn't take as gospel).