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This is one of my games

[FEN ""]
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Bf4 dxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1, Bg4+ 9.f3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6

Black to move, I played dxe5, dxe5, Qxd1 Kxd1 and now I played Bg4+ so that he plays f3 and block his knight, well if he blocks the check with his knight i take it.

flip the board to see from my point of view, i don't know how to flip it by default.

and after f3 I played Bh5 so that he plays g4 stretching his pawns and then Bg6

Is this setup good for black? Is there a better setup?

I rarely play this defense and there isn't too much material on balogh variation, so i was trying to avoid some common traps if I fianchetto the black bishop so I tried to block the knight.

I'm not asking to analyze this particular game because my opponent is below 2000 so if you play correctly you could beat him, I'm asking is Bg4+ playable at the GM or masters level? If not, why not?

Lynob
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2 Answers2

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[FEN ""]
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4 Nb6 5. Bb3 Nc6 6. Bf4 dxe5 7. dxe5 Qxd1+ 8. Kxd1, Bg4+ 9. f3 Bh5 10. g4 Bg6

I think that the position after 10...Bg6 is better for black. The white bishops are not collaborating very well. In fact, the white bishops are virtually useless at the moment. In addition, the white king needs to make a couple of moves to find a reasonable position, if it will find it at all.

Black wants to play O-O-O, e7-e6 and h7-h5. White could very well become crushed here. I think that 6.Bf4 was not the best choice for white, 6.e6 or 6.exd6 should be better.

Pablo S. Ocal
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Rauan Sagit
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I do not see it at GM level nor IM level.

At ALL games chesstempo shows a winning % of 75 for black, and 100% for g4.

At your level it is definitely playable.

As an aside you would not see me play that variation as white. The two pawn attack seems to be far better than this variation.

yobamamama
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