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Panno Variation with 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 and 8.d5 [E66]

The lines where White plays 8.d5 can also be reached via either a 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 & 8.d5 or a 6...c5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.d5 Na5 move order. In both cases Black has a choice of whether to play either ...a7-a6, ...Ra8-b8 or both these moves. I will break down my survey so that first I look at Black playing both ...a7-a6 and ...Ra8-b8, then just ...a7-a6 and finally just ...Ra8-b8. It turns out that there are some big differences.

The inclusion of both ...Ra8-b8 and ...a7-a6 might be described as the traditional approach, with Plachetka, J - Chlpik, M showing an old main line with 12...bxc4 13.bxc4 Bh6 14.Ncb1:

I’m surprised 14.f4 took over from this move as White’s chances appear to be quite good. In the game White was better with 18.f4! rather than accepting the exchange sacrifice.

Both 12...e6 and 12...e5 come to the same thing if White takes en passant on e6, the main fork in the road is in how Black then recaptures. The supposedly solid 13...Bxe6

was played in Nechaeva, M - Vasilevich, T, with this game following an old Donner, J - Stein, L game until Black varied with 22...Kf8. At this point Stockfish doesn’t see much for White, yet in both these games White soon had an appreciable advantage. I would therefore suggest that this is not an easy position for Black to play, notwithstanding the engine assessment.

In Hu, Z - Zhao, Y Black recaptured with 13...fxe6, instead:

which certainly scores better in practice. Yet Black’s position is far from easy after either the usual 14.cxb5 or Hu’s rare 14.Rad1.

There are a couple of Black approaches where he omits ...Ra8-b8. In Iyengar, I - Boswell, J, Black played a Benko style gambit with 6...c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 a6 10.Qc2 b5:

which is also reached via a 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 c5 10.Qc2 b5 move order. David Vigorito previously covered this line, and the game confirmed that 12...Qb6 is probably Black’s best approach. It also confirmed that White should play 13.Nc3 rather than Iyengar’s 13.a4.

Black can also try 10...e6 instead of 10...b5, when Makkar, R - Hampel, F continued with 11.b3 exd5 12.cxd5 b5 13.Bb2 Ra7:

This does not seem to be very good for Black, especially if White plays 15.Rae1 instead of 15.a4, but in a one-off practical game anything can happen.

Finally, we come to Sjugirov, S - Assaubayeva, B, in which Black omitted ...a7-a6 via 6...c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 e6 10.Qc2 Rb8:

the 6...Nc6 move order being 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 Rb8 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 c5 10.Qc2 e6. This seems to be the most promising approach of those we’ve looked at, as after 11.b3 exd5 12.cxd5 b5, Black is getting serious counterplay. Stockfish suggested lines in which White puts a knight on e3 but this invites an exchange sacrifice.

Panno Variation with 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 and 8.Bf4 [E63]

Looking at White’s other options, apart from him playing d4-d5, I found that 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 Rb8 8.Bf4 Ng4:

is much better than 7.Nc3 a6 8.Bf4 Ng4. When comparing the games Ding, L - Wen, Y and Gluckman, D - Hebden, M it becomes rather clear, Ding’s plan of 13.Qxd8 followed by 14.Nd5 being completely innocuous if Black has played 7...Rb8 instead of 7...a6.

Based on these findings I believe that 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 Rb8 is a better move order than 7...a6, yet the latter move is around ten times more popular in my databases. This seems to be another good example of going with the experts or at least paying serious attention to the choices they make.

That's all for now! Nigel

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