Crushing the Kopec

In the Kopec System against the Sicilian, White plays 3.c3 and the odd-looking 4.Bd3!?, intending to drop the bishop back to c2, followed in due course by d4. I've faced it many times in blitz games, always finding it a bit annoying. I'd usually play ...e5 at some point and we'd end up in a Ruy Lopez-type position, which I'm not used to defending as Black. During this correspondence game, I consulted the database and discovered that Black scores much better with 5...Bg4! Often he plays ...e6 and ...d5, setting up a French-type pawn structure where he has already developed his light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain.

This game gives me a 122-0-0 score on GameKnot and a rating of 2015.