A winning Trompowsky line?

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.d5 Qb6

Up to this point this is mainline Trompowsky.

7.e4 Qxb2 8.Nd2 Qxc3 9.Bc7



An interesting idea. Yet it has only been seen once on the master level. Black cannot retreat his queen via a5, and white has more than sufficient play for the two pawns.

Here are two games in the line. I failed to convert my winning chances.

Game 2971228 The position after Black's 23rd looks hilarious. 🙂 Black's queen position looks highly improbable. Anyway...

12…Qg5 is losing. There are winning lines after 13. h4. And after 13…b6 14.Bxb6 wins. 17…Nb4 again threw away drawing chances; 17…Qf6 was better, but white may maintain a small initiative. And 35.Nd6+ is losing whereas 35. Qe1 wins. In the end, if not for the g6-g5-g4 threat, white would have had a forced mate in 8...

Game 3302697 18. Rxd7 and Bxb4 are both winning, and I’m not sure what’s the losing move for Black. Of course, Nf4 loses outright.

I have not found, after hours of research, a convincing drawing line for Black in this line. Nothing even close. Can you find one?

Below is the possible drawing line:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.d5 Qb6 7.e4 Qxb2 8.Nd2 Qxc3 9.Bc7 Qe3+ 10.Ne2 d6 11.Nc4 Qh6 12.Rb1 g6 13.h4

My analysis indicates 12…g6 is the only potentially drawing move. Other lines all seem to fail. How would the line proceed after 13.h4?

Originally posted by Yuga
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 c5 4.f3 Qa5+ 5.c3 Nf6 6.d5 Qb6

Up to this point this is mainline Trompowsky.

7.e4 Qxb2 8.Nd2 Qxc3 9.Bc7

[fen]rnb1kb1r/ppBppppp/5n2/2pP4/4P3/2q2P2/P2N2PP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 0 9[/fen]

An interesting idea. Yet it has only been seen once on the master level. Black cannot retreat his queen via a5, and white has more than suffici ...[text shortened]... entially drawing move. Other lines all seem to fail. How would the line proceed after 13.h4?

Interesting stuff...I love the Trompovsky as I find it a very creative opening (but not an easy one to learn!). Will find some time to look through these games later. There was a line I remember similar to your first game where black captures the b2 pawn and white manages to trap the queen...will post that if I can find it.

The trompowsky should be banned alongside the Smith-Morra Gambit.

I have actually defended black in this line and played the ..Qh6 idea with ..g6 that you gave. I had no familiarity with line except remembering that Andrew Martin put it into one of his playchess shows when it was first played.
I will try to find the game and post it later.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
I have actually defended black in this line and played the ..Qh6 idea with ..g6 that you gave. I had no familiarity with line except remembering that Andrew Martin put it into one of his playchess shows when it was first played.
I will try to find the game and post it later.