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Schliemann-Jaenisch 
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6)
According to current theory (2000) the move 7... bc6 is dubious. Both 7...Qd5 and 7...Qg5 are considered stronger.
On this page I would like to convince you that it should be the other way around!
A little statistics
I did some statistics on the 7... bc6 games in my Schliemann-Jaenisch database, which consists (last count in August 2000) of 1399 games.
In 83 games black played 7... bc6. In 43% of these games white won, in 37% black won, so 20% of the games were drawn.
Except for one game (with 7... bc6 8.Qh5...) all games continued 7... bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7, to be followed by 9.Ba8 in 3 games and 9.Qh5 in the other 79 games.
A little analysis
Let's take a closer look at the diagrammed position. White only has one pawn for the knight he sacrificed. He wins another pawn on c6, and can win, on the next move, the exchange on a8. So if white tries to restore the material balance as soon as possible he can get two pawns and the exchange for a knight. According to the classical way to evaluate the relative weight of the pieces, white should be all right.
In the Schliemann-Jaenisch however, mind rules over matter! Check out the following analysis to see what that means:
8.Bc6 Bd7
Here white has the option to take the rook on a8 as happened in three games in my database. In one of these games I got away with a draw. The game was played long before I knew I was playing a Schliemann-Jaenisch (and I'm quite sure my opponent did not know either)! That game went: 9.Ba8 Qa8 10.O-O... (the other games went 10.Qh5 Kd8 11.O-O Nf6 [or 11... Qc6 12.Qd1 Nf6 13.d3 Bg4 14.Qd2 Qd5 15.de4 Qd2 16.Bd2 Ne4 and this ICC Blitz game was finally drawn on move 56.] 12.Qa5 Qb6 13.d4 Qd5 14.Qa7 Qh5 15.g3 Qf3 16.Qb8 Ke7 17.Qb3 Qg4 18.c4 Qh3 19.Bg5 c5 20.Qe3 Kf7 21.Bf6 gf6 22.Qe4 Be6 23.d5 Bf6 24.Qe3 Re8 25.Qd2 Re4 26.b3 Rd4 27.Qa5 Rh4 (0-1 Desroches-Yourth 1974)) 10...Nf6 11.d3 Bd6 12.f3 O-O 13.fe4 Ng4 14.h3 Bc5 15.d4 Rf1 16.Kf1 Qf8 17.Kg1 Qf2 18.Kh1 Qg3 19.hg4 Qh4 20.Kg1 Bd4 21.Qd4 Qe1 22.Kh2 Qh4 (½-½ Heesen-Vermeulen 1984).
The bishop on c6 does more to annoy black than loosing the exchange would do. White's plan should be: forget about the material balance and attack! That's why he plays:
9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5...
In one game white tried his luck with 10.Qc5.... This ICC Blitz game continued as follows: 10... Kf7 11.Qc4 Be6 12.Qe4 Rb8 13.O-O Nf6 14.Qe2 Qd6 15.Bf3 Re8 16.d3 Qb6 17.Be3 Qb2 18.Rab1 Qe5 19.Rb7 Bd6 20.g3 a6 21.Qd2 Qf5 22.Bg2 Rb8 23.Rfb1 Rb7 24.Rb7 Re8 25.c4 Bc8 26.Ra7 Re7 27.d4 Qb1 and white resigned because his rook is going to be locked in (e.g. 28.Bf1 Qb6 29.Ra8 Qb7 30.Rc8 Qc8).
10... Be6
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7 9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5 Be6)
Now white has to find the best way to continue his attack. Several moves have been tried:
- 11.Ba8 (this best try according to Tseitlin is seen in 25 games. In 16 games white won, in 5 games black won, so 4 games were drawn. Seems like a good idea for white!)
- 11.f4 (this best try according to Shamkovich & Schiller is seen in 33 games. In 13 games white won, in 12 games black won, the other 8 games were drawn. Chances are even one would say!)
- 11.d4 (this best try according to the Old Masters is seen in 19 games. Only in 7 games white won, 10 games were won by black, so 2 ended in a draw. Seems like a bad idea for white!)
It is clear why nobody tried 11.Be4... because there would follow: 11...Rb8 12.O-O Qd6! 13.d4 Qe5 14.de5 Kf7 and black is better. But I'm surprised nobody tried 11.b3... with the idea of 12.Ba3... Nevertheless: it brings white 4 pawns for his knight e.g. 11.b3 Rc8 12.Ba3 Kf7 13.Bf8 Qf8 14.Bb7 Rd8 15.Qc7 Rd7 16.Qf4 Nf6 17.Be4... Do I miss something in this line? And, if so: are you willing to play black in an email game against me (please let me know)?
Let's take a look at the moves that have been played.
Tseitlin's 11.Ba8...
According to the statistics this should be white's best try. Let's see what happens.
11.Ba8 Qa8 12.Qc7...
These moves were played in all games (with this line) in my database.
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7 9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5 Be6 11.Ba8 Qa8 12.Qc7 Ke8)
Here the black players tried all three possible moves:
- 12... Ke8 (played in 15 games and white won 9 of them (black won 3); comparing the score statistics of 12...Ke8 with 12...Kf6, you wonder why 12...Ke8 is the main line.)
- 12... Bd7 (played in 5 games, 4 games won by white, none by black.)
- 12... Kf6 (played in 4 games; 2 games won by white, 2 by black.)
12... Ke8
The other possibilities:
- 12...Kf6 13.O-O... (or 13.b3 Be7 [or 13...Kg6 14.Bb2... (or 14.h4 h5 15.Bb2 Nf6 16.O-O-O Qd5 17.Qe5 Bc5 18.Qd5 Bd5 19.d4 ed3 20.Rd3 Be4 and black won (Aura-Gronroos 1996)) 14... Nf6 15.O-O-O Qd5 (or 15... a5 16.g4 h5 17.gh5 Rh5 18.Rhg1 Ng4 19.Rg3 Rc5 20.Qf4 Qc8 21.Rdg1 Rc2 22.Kb1 Rc6 23.h3 (1-0 Holmstein-Gronroos 1992)) 16.f3 Bd6 17.Qa7 Ra8 18.Qd4 ef3 19.gf3 Qd4 20.Bd4... with an advantage for white (Yudovich-Krogius 1959)] 14.O-O Kg6 15.Te1 +-) 13... Kg6 (or 13... Ne7 14.f3 ef3 15.d4... [or 15.Tf3 Nf5 16.d4 Qe4 17.Qd8 Kf7 18.c3 +-] 15... Qe4 16.Rf3 +-) 14.d3 Nf6 15.Re1 h5 16.Qg3 Kf7 17.de4 h4 18.Qc7 Be7 19.Be3 Rc8 20.Qa7... and white won (Smejkal-Duckstein 1969).
- 12...Bd7 13.d3... (or 13.b3 Nf6 14.Bb2 Qd5 15.Qe5 Kf7 16.Qd5 Nd5 17.f3 ef3 18.O-O Bc5 19.d4 Bd6 20.Rf3... and white won (Ostojic-Duckstein 1966)) 13... Nf6 14.O-O h6 15.de4 Ne8 16.Qa5 Be6 17.Be3 a6 18.Rae1 Kf7 19.Qa4 Be7 20.f4 Nd6 21.f5 Bc4 22.Bc5 Bf1 23.Bd6 Rc8 24.Qd7 Re8 25.Qe6 Kf8 26.Rf1 Bd6 (1-0 Adamski-Nilsson 1962).
13.O-O ...
On one occasion the fianchetto of white's queen's bishop was tested: 13.b3 Bd7 14.Bb2 Nf6 15.Bd4 Be7 16.Qxa7 Qxa7 17.Bxa7 and black resigned after counting the white pawns on the queenside (Goedhart-Andrews 1991). On another occasion the faulty 13.d3? was punished as follows: 13... ed3 14.O-O dc2 15.Re1 Qd5 16.Qc2 Kf7 17.Bf4 Nf6 18.Qc7 Be7 and black won (Hietanen-Wikman 1969).
13... Be7
Several other moves were tried. Most popular was 13...Nf6; the others were 13...Bd5, 13...Qd5 and 13...Qc8.
We give an example of each move:
- On 13...Nf6, followed: 14.d4! Be7 15.c4 Kf7 16.d5 Bd7 17.b3 Rc8 18.Qf4... with an advantage for white (Filipenko-Agrinsky 1975).
- On 13...Bd5, followed in an ICC Blitz game: 14.c4 Bc6 15.b4 Qb7 16.Qe5 Kd8 17.b5 Bd7 18.d4 ed3 19.Bg5 Kc8 and black won.
- On 13...Qd5, followed: 14.d3 Bd6 15.Qxg7 Be5 16.Qxa7 exd3 17.Re1 Ne7 18.Qa4 Kf7 19.Qe4 Qxe4 20.Rxe4 Bf6 21.cxd3... and white won (Adams-Ferron Garcia 1993).
- On 13...Qc8, followed in an ICC Blitz game: 14.Qc8 Bc8 15.Re1 Kf7 16.Re4 Nf6 17.Re1 Bd6 18.d3 Bf5 19.Bd2 Re8 20.Re8 Ke8 21.a4... and white won.
14.d3...
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7 9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5 Be6 11.Ba8 Qa8 12.Qc7 Ke8 13.O-O Be7 14.d3...)
14... ed3
Also tried were:
- 14...Nf6
- 15.Bg5! Kf7 16.de4 Rc8 17.Qf4 Rc2 18.Rac1!... and white won (Hennings-Lang 1971 (in my 3 sources Lang was called Lang, Lanka and Lanc!)).
- 15.Be3 ed3 16.cd3 Kf7 17.Bc5 Nd5 18.Qa7 Qa7 19.Ba7 Ra8 20.Be3... and white won (Byrne-Menvielle 1976).
- 14...Kf7 15.Be3 Nf6 16.de4 Rc8 17.Qa7 Qe4 18.c3 Nd5 19.Rfe1 Qg6 20.Kh1... and white won (Evans-Duckstein 1968).
15.cd3 Nf6 16.Re1 Kf7 17.Be3 Rc8 18.Qa7 Qa7 19.Ba7 Ra8 20.Bd4 Ra2 21.Ra2 Ba2 22.Ra1 Bb3 23.Ra7 Ke6 24.Kf1 g6 25.Bf6 Kf6 26.Ke2 h5
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7 9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5 Be6 11.Ba8 Qa8 12.Qc7 Ke8 13.O-O Be7 14.d3 ed3 15.cd3 Nf6 16.Re1 Kf7 17.Be3 Rc8 18.Qa7 Qa7 19.Ba7 Ra8 20.Bd4 Ra2 21.Ra2 Ba2 22.Ra1 Bb3 23.Ra7 Ke6 24.Kf1 g6 25.Bf6 Kf6 26.Ke2 h5)
Is there someone with ideas to improve on these moves?
A little bit better, but still not enough, is 26...Ke6 27.Ra6 Kd7 28.Ke3...
27.d4 Bc4 28.Ke3 g5 29.g3 Ke6 30.Ra5 Bd5 31.Ra6 Kf5
31...Bd6 32.f4 gf4 33.gf4... doesn't help either.
32.f3 g4
Also 32...Bf6 33.g4 hg4 34.fg4 Kg6 35.h4 gh4 36.g5 Kg5 37.Ra5... is good for white.
33.f4...
Another possibility is 33.Ra5 Ke6 34.Rd5 Kd5 35.fg4 hg4 with a big advantage for white.
34.Ra5 Ke6 35.f5 Kd6 36.Ra6...
And black resigned because of 36...Kd7 37.gh4 Bh4 38.Tg6... (1-0 Sio-Tanin cr 1974).
Conclusion 11.Ba8...
White is better in all lines, so Tseitlin might be right!
Shamkovich & Schiller's 11.f4...
11.f4 ef3
Or 11...Nh6 12.Qe4... (or 12.f5 Nf5 13.Rf1 Qd6! [not 13...Nd4? 14.Qc5 Qd6 15.Qg5 mate] 14.Qd6 Kd6 15.Ba8 c6 with a small advantage for black; or 12.d4 Ng4 13.Qe4 Nf6 14.Qe5 Kf7 15.f5 Bd5 16.O-O... soon ended in a draw (Ivkov-Porreca 1954)) 12...Rb8 13.d4 Kf7 14.f5 Bc4 15.b3 Bb4 16.Kd1 Bc3 17.d5 Qf6 18.Qe6 Qe6 19.fe6 Kg6 20.bc4 Ba1 with a small advantage for black (Morozov-Starkov 1960).
12.O-O!...
After 12.d4 Nf6 13.d5 f2 14.Ke2 Nd5 15.Bg5 Nf6 16.Rhd1 Qc8 17.Rd7 Qd7 18.Bd7 Kd7 19.Qb5 Ke7 black seems to have sufficient compensation for the queen (Kovalevsky-Lyubarsky 1968).
12...Rb8 13.d4...
(Position after : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fe4 5.Ne4 d5 6.Ne5 de4 7.Nc6 bc6 8.Bc6 Bd7 9.Qh5 Ke7 10.Qe5 Be6 11.f4 ef3 12.O-O Rb8 13.d4...)
13... Nf6
According to Tseitlin both Vukovic's suggestion 13...Rb6 and Tseitlin's own idea 13...Qd6 are better and lead to sharp play.
I'm not so sure whether black can hope for more than an equal game in those lines. Let's take a closer look:
- 13... Rb6 14.Rf3 Nf6 (Not 14... Rc6 15.Bg5 Nf6 16.Rf6 Kd7 17.Re6 Re6 18.Qd5 Bd6 [or 18... Rd6 19.Qf5...] 19.Bd8... and white is much better) 15.d5 Rc6 (on 15... Qd6 comes 16.Qd6 Kd6 17.Bf4 Ke7 18.Re1 Rc6 19.dc6 Kf7 20.Bc7... and black has to fight with two bishops against a rook and three pawns) 16.dc6 Kf7 17.Bg5 Be7 18.Re3 Qd5 19.Bf6 Bc5 20.Rae1 gf6 21.Qc7 Kg6 22.Qg3 Qg5 23.Kh1 Be3 24.Re3... with an unclear but equal position.
- 13... Qd6 (I'm still working on my analysis of this line, so check back within a couple of days!)
14.d5 Qd6 15.Qe6 Qe6 16.de6 Ke6 17.Bf3 Bc5 18.Kh1 Rhd8 19.b3 Kf7 20.Bf4 Bd6 21.Be3 a5 22.a4 Be5 23.Rad1 Bc3 24.Bf4 Rd1 25.Td1 Tc8 26.Bc6 h6 27.h3 Bb4 28.Rd3 Ke6 29.g3 Bc5 30.Bd2 Bb6 31.b4 ab4 32.Bb4 Rb8 33.c3 Ba7 34.a5 Ne8 35.Rd7 Nf6 36.Rc7...
And black resigned (1-0 Gipslis-Tringov 1958).
Conclusion 11.f4...
White is better in some lines, but black can fight back succesfully with 11...Nh6 or 13...Rb6 or 13...Qd6, so Shamkovich & Schiller might be wrong!
The Old Masters' 11.d4...
11.d4 Kf7!
Not so good are:
- 11... ed4 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.O-O-O Kf7 14.Rhe1 Bg4! (and not 14... Ba2? as in O'Kelly-Denker 1948, which continued: 15.Qa5 Be6 16.Bf6 Qf6 17.Re6 Qf2 18.Rd3 Ke6 19.Qd5 Ke7 20.Qe5 (1-0)) 15.f3 Bd6 16.Be3... (or 16.Qc3 Nd5!) 16... Bd7 17.Ba8... (or 17.Bf6 Qf6 18.Bd7 Bf4!) 17... Qa8 and the situation is equal but unclear according to Schwarz.
- 11... Nf6? 12.d5 Nd5 13.Bg5 Nf6 14.Rad1 Qc8 15.f4! ef4 16.O-O... and white is better.
12.Bg5...
Or 12.Ba8 Qa8 (12...Bd6 13.Qe4 Nf6 14.Qf3 Qa8) 13.Qc7 Be7 14.c4 Nf6 15.d5 Bd7 16.Qf4 g5 17.Qe3 Bd6 18.Bd2 Rc8 19.b3 Qb8 20.h3.Bc5 21.Qe2 Qe5 22.Rc1 g4 23.Be3 gh3 24.gh3 Bb4 25.Bd2 Nd5 26.Bb4 Pb4 27.Rd1 Qc3 28.Kf1 Lh3 (0-1 Shubarov-Starkov 1960).
12... Nf6 13.Bf6...
If white tries 13.d5 Bd7 14.Ba8 Bd6! 15.Bf6 Qa8 16.Qh5 Kf6, it is black that comes out on top.
13... gf6 14.Qh5 Kg7 15.O-O-O Rb8 16.Be4 Qd7 17.Rd3 Bd6 18.Qa5 Rhe8
By combining the power of his pair of bishops with an active rook black is superior (Bannik-Mikenas 1957).
Conclusion 11.d4...
Black is better in all lines, so the Old Masters might be wrong!
...To be continued as soon as I finished my analysis on this line...
