Cleaning up old stuff

Today I was sort of forced by my wife to clean up my study room. Unlike the room of my daughters, my study room is filled with chess related stuff - you will find no posters of the latest boys band, merely a few CD's of Bob Dylan or Neil Young. And chess stuff. That's it, but it's enough to drive my wife crazy. In any case, whilst realigning my stuff a bit, thus satisfying the master of the family, I came upon a nice game I played last year.

Guido De Bouver - Tony Peleman
Mechelen, 2013.
1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nfd7 ?!

I had never seen this move before. Challenging my outpost knight with 8...Nbd7 is often seen, after which white gets a decent attack with the thematic 9.Qf3. But this move seems to violate the basic rules of the chess openings, as the knight is moved twice.

I decided to continue with 9.Qf3 c6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Bc4 e6 12.0-0 and the came equalized somehow.

During analysis, it became obvious I had let the fish off the hook at move 11. And indeed, the odd looking 11.Rh2 !? seems the simplest way for white to complicate things and keeping the pressure on the defender. It might not be the sttrongest move, but certainly is the most difficult for black to defend against.

So let's chekc out 11.Rh2

It seems there are only a few decent black replies : 11...e5 and 11...e6.

a/ 11...e5 12.Rf2 (diagram)

...a1/ 12...f6 13.Bd3 (+)
...a2/ 12...Qe7 13.Bf4 !! (+)
...a3/ 12...Qf6 13.Qd3
......a3a/ 13...Qh4 14.Be3 (+=)
......a3b/ 13...Qe7 14.Bf4 (+=)

......a3c/ 13...Qe6 14.d5 (+=)
......a3d/ 13...Qd6 14.Be3 (+=)

......a3e/ 13...Qd8 14.Be3 (+=)

b/ 11...e6 12.Rf2 (diagram)

...b1/ 12...Qf6 13. Qe3
......b1a/ 13...Qe7 14. Bd2 (+=)
......b1b/ 13...Qd8 14.Bd2 (+=)
......b1c/ 13...Qh4 14.Qf4 Qe7 15.Be3 (+=)
...b2/ 12...Qe7 13.Bf4 (+)


Editor's note : it seems Guido forgot about his post "Handling the do nothing line" where the line 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 Nfd7 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Bg5.
Guess it is a matter of taste which line is better :-)