Bad Neuenahr Round Three

Spanton (1911) - Andreas Kuhn (1827)

Maróczy Bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5!?

More popular are 5...a6 and especially 5...Nf6, but the text has been tried by Caruana, and appears to be a favourite of Epishin's.

6.Nb3

This is Dragon1's top choice; Stockfish18 marginally prefers 6.Nc2!?

What should Black do about the attacked bishop?

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6...Be7

Dragon1 suggests 6..Bb6!?, and if 7.c5, then 7...Bc7, followed by a quick ...b6. Stockfish18 likes 6...Bb4+, when the engines are unsure whether White should intervene with the queen's knight or the queen's bishop.

7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Be3 0-0

The engines suggest 8...Bb4!?

9.Be2 b6

Again the engines suggest ...Bb4, which, like the text, has been played before, but they also suggest an apparent-novelty in 9...d5!?, the idea being to meet 10.cxd5 exd5 11.exd5 with 11...Nb4, when they reckon chances are equal.

10.0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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White's Maróczy Bind has not, so far, been challenged by a pawn break, ie ...b5, ...d5 or ...f5, but the knight at b3 looks a little awkward. The engines give White the better part of equality.

10...Bb7 11.f4 d6 12.Bf3 Nb8??

We did not have a proper postmortem, but AK explained afterwards that he intended rerouting the knight via d7 to protect e6, but failed to take into account that the text interferes with the queen's support of the a8 rook.

White to play and win

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13.e5 1-0

Chess Tip Of The Day 418

After several days of working, Blogger's feeder widget is again failing to update.

The real purpose behind "knights before bishops" is "keep the widest choice" or, as it is generally expressed, "reserve the greater option."

Cecil Purdy, Action Chess: Purdy's 24 Hours Opening Repertoire

Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

THE mouthful that is Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler is explained by the merging of the previously separate towns of Ahrweiler and Bad Neuenahr in 1969.

The two towns, now officially districts of a single town, lie mainly on the left bank of the Ahr, a benign-looking river that nevertheless flash-flooded in July 2021, killing more than 130 people in the immediate area  

Stone bridges were swept away, and not all have been replaced

Bad Neuenahr is the more populous of the two districts, perhaps thanks to its status as a spa, but Ahrweiler has much more of interest to history-lovers, starting with the main gateway to the old town

The entrance is guarded by a statue of a militiaman displaying Ahrweiler's 1365 coat of arms

View of the town's medieval wall, much of which still stands

The same section of wall, but seen from inside Ahrweiler

Looking back to the gateway 

The 13th-century church of Saint Laurentius (Lawrence) is said to be the Rhineland's oldest 'hall church', ie a church with nave and aisles of roughly equal height

A type of mural known as lüftlmalerei, in this case dated 1403 and invoking Saint Sebastian as protector of the town's crossbowmen

Flood damage is still being repaired

But the main square looks good

As do most homes and businesses

Bad Neuenahr Round Two

FACED a Fide master.

Kuno Thiel (2095) - Spanton (1911)

QGD Semi-Tarrasch

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4!? 6.Nxd4!?

More popular are 6.Qa4+ and especially 6.Qxd4.

6...exd5!?

After this the game soon transposes into a main tabiya of the pure Tarrasch, whereas Stockfish18 and Dragon1 prefer keeping the game in independent Semi-Tarrasch lines with 6...Nxd5.

7.g3 Nc6 8.Bg2

This position, which occurs 1,817 times in ChessBase's 2026 Maga database, more normally arises from the move-order 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 cxd4 8.Nxd4

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8...Bc5 9.Nxc6!?

More popular is 9.Nb3, when Black can hold on to the d pawn with 9...Bb4, albeit probably having to give up the bishop-pair, or can offer the d pawn with 9...Bb6!?, eg 10.Nxd5 Be6 11.e4 Bg4 12.f3 Be6 13.Nxb6 Qxb6, with an unclear game.

9...bxc6 10.0-0 0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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Black has more space in the centre, but Black's extra pawn island, and the vulnerability of the c and d pawns on half-open files, are probably more significant, which is presumably why the engines give White at least the better part of equality.

11.Na4 Bd6

Stockfish18 marginally prefers 11...Bb6!?, which Keres used to draw with Smyslov at the 1956 Candidates; Dragon1 disagrees.

12.Be3 Qe7 13.Qc2!? Bd7 14.Nc5 Rfe8 15.Rfe1

The engines like grabbing the bishop-pair with 15.Nxd7!?

15...Rab8 16.Rac1 Rec8!?

The engines suggest 16...Bg4!?

17.b3 Rb5!? 18.Bd4 Bg4!?

Here the engines prefer 18...Bxc5!? or 18...Be6.

19.e4 dxe4?

Possibly best is 19...Bxc5 20.Bxc5 Qd8, albeit White is on top.

20.Nxe4 Nd5?

Better, but still very good for White, is 20...Nxe4.

21.Nf6+!? 1-0

Premature resignation? Possibly, although after 21...Nxf6 22.Rxe7 Bxe7 the engines assess White's advantage as worth more than a piece.

Latest Chess Pen

The inscription shows the pen is from a seniors' chess organisation that is supporting the Bad Neuenahr congress

Bad Neuenahr Round One

Spanton (1911) - Stefan Becker (1721)

French Winawer

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7!? 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5

Via a minor transposition, we have reached a position occurring 27,241 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database

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7.Nf3!?

Fischer tried this twice against Uhlmann, scoring +0=1-1, but otherwise played 7.a4!? Stockfish18 and Dragon1 like the mainline 7.Qg4, and also 7.h4!?

7...Nbc6

This is the commonest reply in Mega26.

8.Be2

There is no consensus about White's best continuation, but more popular are 8.Bd3!? and 8.h4!?

8...Qc7

The engines suggest 8...Qa5 or 8...h6!?

9.0-0 Bd7 10.a4 0-0

More common are 10...b6 and especially 10...f6!?

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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Black is slightly more developed, and has no pawn weaknesses, but White's centre-kingside space advantage and bishop-pair are probably more significant. The engines give White the upper hand.

11.Bf4!?

This seems to be a novelty. The logical follow-up to 10.a4 is 11.Ba3, when 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 seems good for White. The engines suggest 11...b6!? 12.dxc5, and now an apparent-novelty in 12...Rfc8!?, but continue to give White the upper hand.

11...b6

Probably not 11...cxd4 12.cxd4 Nb4?!, as the engines' 13.Qd2!? is strong.

12.Qd2 a6?!

This may be too slow, and seems weakening. The engines suggest 12...Na5 or 12...Rac8.

13.h4!?

This is the engines' top choice.

13...h5!?

This gives an odd impression, especially once White's reply is seen, but the engines are OK with it, although they prefer 13...Qd8!?, albeit reckoning that after 14.h5 h6 15.g4 White has a positionally won game.

How should White proceed?

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14.Nh2

Even stronger, according to the engines, are 14.Ng5 and 14.Bd3, but the text is also winning.

14...g6?!

Possibly best is 14...cxd4 15.cxd4 Nf5!?, even though, after 16.Bxh5, the reply 16...Nfxd4 leaves White well on top after both 17.Bg4 and 17.Bd1!?, according to the engines.

15.Bh6

How should Black respond?

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15...Nf5!?

This is Stockfish18's top choice, and for a long time Dragon1 agrees, although it comes to prefer giving up the exchange in another way, by 15...Kh7!? Allow both engines even longer, and they start fluctuating with moves such as 15...cxd4 and 15...Rfc8

16.Bxf8 Rxf8 17.Nf3

Black has no long-term compensation for the exchange, although in the short term the knight at f5 looks attractive

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17...c4!?

This is the engines' top choice, narrowly ahead of 17...a5, the idea being to make it difficult for White to open files for the rooks.

18.Qg5 Qd8!? 19.Rfb1 Qxg5 20.hxg5 Rb8 21.Nh2 h4!? 22.Ng4 1-0

There is still quite a long way to go before White's advantage can be converted into a trivial win. But the engines reckon White's advantage is the equivalent of being at least a piece up, and, with queens off the board, it would take a most unlikely blunder for White not to win eventually.

Playing Conditions (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler)

Tournament hall under preparation yesterday

Getting There (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler)

CAUGHT Ryanair's 09:00 from Stansted to Cologne-Bonn, a bus to Bonn's main rail station, and finally a train to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, arriving at my hotel, which is also the venue, shortly before 14:00 central European time.

View from my hotel room

Northern Puzzle

SAW this serial number on a Northern Line carriage: 53712.

As usual, each number should be used once, and once only, and must be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided to make a balanced equation.
There is a perfect solution, ie one that uses the numbers in the order they appear.
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My solution: 5 + 3 - 7 +1 = 2

Rhine Chess

AM making final preparations for traveling tomorrow to Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, a spa town in Rhineland-Palatinate.

There are three senior tournaments, divided into 50+, 65+ and 75+, with one round a day over nine days, starting on Wednesday.

The time control in all three sections is 40 moves in 90 minutes, with 30 minutes to finish, and a 30-second increment throughout. The first round is at 14:00, but the remainder are at 10:00.

There are 159 entries: 29 in the 50+, 77 in the 65+, 53 in the 75+.Ahrtal-Tourismus

Image: Ahrtal-Tourismus