Monday 9 April 2018

Symmetrical Chess

THIS near-symmetrical position arose after 11 moves of my last-round game at Jersey.

Position after 11...Bc5! in Spanton (1851) - Krzyzstov Belzo (2103), Jersey round nine
Here are the moves that got us there:
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3
Easily the most popular move in ChessBase's 2018 Mega database. But also represented by examples in their thousands are 3.g3 and 3.d4.
3...d5 4.d4 
Hugely more popular is 4.cxd5, when the main line involves Black setting up a Maroczy Bind by 4...Nxd5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Nc7 7.0-0 e5, with a position that has featured Karpov, Kramnik, Smyslov and Topalov as White, while Black's resources have been championed by Botvinnik, Fine, Reshevsky and Kasparov.
4...cxd4 5.Nxd4?!
This is disliked by my analysis engines, and scores very poorly in Mega18. Usual is 5.Nxd5.
5...Nc6?! 
Stockfish9 reckons Black is almost winning after the aggressive 5...e5.
6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e4 
8.Bd2 is the main move.
8...Nxc3 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.bxc3 e5 11.Bc4 Bc5!
Reaching the diagram. Seven games arrived at this position in Mega18, and each was drawn.
My game continued:
12.0-0?!
This is probably too conservative. The king should not be in danger if it took up the more centralised e2 square.
12...Ke7 13.Rb1 Bd7 14.Bd2 Rab8 15.Rb3 Be6 16.Bxe6 Kxe6 17.Rfb1 Rxb3 18.axb3 Rd8 19.Be1
Black's pieces are more active than White's, but he has more pawn islands (1/2-1/2, 49 moves).

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