THE position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.0-0!? is a rare bird.
Just 59 games reach it in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, but early results are promising, with White scoring +31=6-22, which is a healthy 58%.
In 46 of the games whites had a rating which averaged at 2115, and they performed at 2164, ie +49pts.
Black players had a rating in 48 games, also averaging at 2115, and they performed at 2023, ie -92pts.
As I have detailed, strong players almost invariably play 7...Bd7 rather than immediately capturing on c3.
One point of their choice is that if White replies 8.cxd4, the game transposes into a regular Milner-Barry Gambit.
If White plays Jonny Hector's choice 8.Re1 or Magnus Carlsen's novelty 8.Nbd2!?, Black still has the option of capturing on c3.
Even at club level, players are well capable of finding 7...Bd7 - it occurs in 42 of the 59 games in Mega20.
There is much still to be learned about the New Milner-Barry.
The Cuban international master Osmel Garcia Carey, for example, has his own ideas about how to play the gambit, preferring to meet 7...Bd7 with 8.Kh1!?, while the Australian amateur Adrian Flitney likes 8.Qe2!?
For what it is worth, the analysis engine Stockfish12 does not approve of Garcia Carey's idea, but Komodo11.01 is fine with it.
Both engines reckon Flitney's move is playable, although in this case Komodo11.01 is slightly less keen than Stockfish12.
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