There is no help out there.

Last post covered the challening line 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nf3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.00 00 8.Qe1 Nc6 9.Qh4 Bg4. We learned that black's strategy is depriving white of attacking chances since neither 10.d5, 10.Rd1, 10.Be3 or 10.Ne2 offers winning chances to white.

So what to play ? In last post, I believed that 10.Ne2 is best, since I assumed there is only one move that provides black with a real advantage and that is the odd looking 10...Bf5. But let's look at the alternatives :

a/ 10...h5 ?! 11.c3 and black is better after 11...Na5

b/ 10...Bxf3 11.Rxf3 with an equal position

c/ 10...Bh5 ?! and even after this silly looking move, white cant get the attack going, eg 11.c3 Na5 with small black advanatge.

d/ 10...Qd7 11.c3 and black remains better.

So it seems that there are MULTIPLE moves for black to get the advantage after 8...Nc6 9.Qh4 Bg4 10.Ne2 ! Does that mean that the whole Studier line of attack is wrong ? Maybe there are alternatives to the immediate 9.Qh4 ?? I doubt it, since any alternative would consist of the development of white's queen's bishop, either to e3, f4 or g5. But this is a waste of time, since it actually aims for h6. And depriving black the option of Bg4 by means of 9.is no option either, since the d4 pawn is hanging.

Finally, 9.Kh1, in true Zilbermintz style, also leaves to many options for the black player.

So I guess it is fair to say that the Studier setup ( castling short, Qe1 and Qh4 and Bc4 ) is refuted by black's simple Nc6 9.Qh4 Bg4.

Maybe we all have to start looking at other lines, such as 7.Bf4 for fighting the Bogoljubow defense...