Max Lange Attack

[losthighway]

After:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Nf6
4. d4 exd4
5. 0-0 Bc5
6. e5 d5
7. exf6 dxc4
8. Re1+

I've only ever seen 8...Be6 going into the theory, but Toga II recommends 8..Kf8.  It seems like an intuitive move, does anyone know why it's not more common?

[marvellosity]

A good question! I had a play with the lines, and it seems if Black can avoid some (admittedly several) pitfalls, he has every chance of coming out at least equal and quite possibly better.

[alvarofrota]

Prezado Losthighway:

According an old book of Pachman, after:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Nf6
4. d4 exd4
5. 0-0 Bc5
6. e5 d5
7. exf6 dxc4
8. Re1+

8... Kf8 fails to 9. Bg5 and now:

a.) 9... Qd7 10. Bh6!! +-

b.) 9... gxf6 10. Bh6+ Kg8 11. Nc3 Bf8 12. Bxf8 Kxf8 13. Ne4 follow by Qd2 with attack.

But, as I said, this is according an OLD book. Perhaps Toga shows us something new in this position.

Aquele abraço!

Álvaro

[losthighway]

Thank you for your post!

[extrabold]

CM prefers 4 light squared bishop moves to 11...Bf8, after 2 minutes or so, not least I guess because the knight on c3 can now be taken.

[roq]

There are actually about 30 games in this line on my database. most of them go: 8...Kf8 9.Bg5 gxf6 10.Bh6+ Kg8. The stats show white scoring around 80%. I'm not sure that I'd favour this line as black in a correspondence game (sure wouldn't dream of playing it over the board), since the black king rook is entombed on h8 and white is going to get a lot of activity for the pawns.

After 10...Kg8 Fritz thinks black is about 1/2 a pawn up. However, that's neither here nor there really, since this position is so complicated that the evaluation is likely to fluctuate wildly as you move down the line and tactics appear from over the computer's horizon. Those tactics often favour the side with greater activity, rather than the one with more material. And here black's problem is that he has 5 points of material stuck in the corner making no contribution to the game at all.

[munich]

Every now and again, the max lange Attack is coming up in my games (I am white).
Nevertheless, I dont like it really that much for white. Now that I play strategically more sound moves, I think that besides of special tactics within the position, it is rather lost for white. Yes, sure, I more often win it with white than I loses it. However, usually my opponents are slightly weaker than me (most are below 1900) who go into this variation.
But if I had to play it against someone who knows his stuff, then it would be a hard time for me. It is not so much that white is often 2 pawns down. No! The real trouble is, that black has the center pawns, and that is a factor that slowly kicks in after black managed to set his sails around the deep tactics. With white all you can do is keep the situation complicated, even if white isnt sure where these complications will end. Because for if white doesnt put oil into the tactical fire, he is strategically soon lost.