Spanton (1890/171) - Shane Frith (1639/140)
French Winawer
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7
This popular alternative to the main move 4...c5 has been played by Kramnik, Carlsen and Caruana. It dates back to at least 1888 when Tarrasch chose it in a win over von Gottschall, and it was a favourite of Ragozin. Usually the two moves transpose.
5.Bd2
As against 4...c5, White's main move is 5.a3.
5...b6
A common positional idea - Black hopes to exchange his bad bishop for White's good one.
6.a3!?
This move scores just 30% in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, the point being that spending a tempo to win the bishop-pair is suspect when the bishop-pair may not last very long.
6...Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ba6 8.Bxa6
8.Nge2!? to preserve the bishop-pair has been played by a 2397 but looks awkward.
8...Nxa6
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| Who is better? |
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White has a bad bishop but more space in the centre and will find it easier to manoeuvre on the kingside. Black's a6 knight is a bit out on a limb, but otherwise his position has no real weaknesses. Stockfish10 reckons White is slightly better after 9.Qg4; Komodo9 suggests 9.Qe2 or 9.Nf3 but reckons the position is equal.
9.Qd3 Qc8!?
More popular is 9...Nb8. The text has been played by a 2490 but it does not seem to be a good use of the queen, and will prove a serious loss of time if the a6 knight has to retreat later anyway.
10.Nf3
This may be new. 10.Bd2 has been played by a 2282, and 10.Ne2 by a 2240. Part of my reason for playing 10.Nf3 was in the hope that Black would play …
10...0-0??
Two question marks might seem harsh but Black is now almost certainly lost. Much better was 10...c5, attempting to justify Black's ninth move. Black is then probably OK, which does suggest that my sixth move was not the best.
11.Ng5 g6?!
11...Ng6 12.h4 is also horrible for Black, but at least does not weaken the dark squares around Black's king.
12.Qh3 h5 13.g4
Both engines reckon White is winning (1-0, 63 moves).
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