Fritz vs the Opening

Black to play and be dominated?!


Check this position in your favorite tract on the Bishop's Opening or the Vienna Game and you'll find the authors universally agree that white has an edge here. The databases seem to bear this out. White is scoring 68% from this position in my TWIC database and 72% from this position in the ChessBase 2007 Big Database.


Sources would seem to agree that this is a nice position to have as white, if you can get it. White seems to develop a strong attack after 4 ... Qf6 5. Nd5 Qxf2 6. Kd8, and while 4 ... g6 seems the safer route, the books and databases still seem to prefer white. (Blue Devil, I know you were working from Emms' Attacking with 1 e4 at some point...did you run across this line there?)


Fritz however, isn't too impressed. He gives a slight edge to black after 4 ... Nd4!? 5. Qxg7 Qf6 6. Qxf6 Nxf6 7. Bd3. Of the 200 games I have that reach the position after 4 Qg4 only one continues with Nd4. White (rated 300 points higher than his opponent) goes on to win it.


Has black equalized?

So what gives? More importantly: can I effectively use Fritz to work on openings? Many of the lines that are recommended in sub variations and notes in the books that I have are evaluated differently by Fritz than by the authors. Now, I'm not playing against Fritz or even strong masters at the club, but it makes me feel a little lost.

Anyway, any advice that folks can give on how you make use of computer engines in your understanding of the openings that you play would be most appreciated!