Well, that has certainly been my verdict since coming across some analysis of his while I was surfing the internet yesterday.
The analysis, now only available in a cached version, seems to have been part of an article about the Closed Sicilian for the openings site chesspublishing.com.
It brought back memories of playing in the annual 11-round Politiken Cup in Copenhagen.
The game Lane cites was played in round six of the 2001 tournament, when I was following a White repertoire laid out in grandmaster John Emms' Everyman book Attacking With 1 e4 (I had been asked to review the book for Chris Rice's now-defunct Weekend Chess Magazine).
Spanton (2051) - Michael Tandrup (1795*)
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3
Emms' book is "aimed for those who want an opening repertoire based on 1.e4 (but) who have neither the time nor the inclination to learn reams and reams of the latest modern opening theory." He recommends, among other lines, the Bishop's Opening against 1...e5, the King's Indian Attack against 1...e6 and the Closed Variation against 1...c5.
Emms explains: "In general I've opted for 'opening systems' in which learning the major ideas is just as important as learning the actual variations (but) many of my recommendations have been played at one time or another by world-class players, even world champions."
If this sounds good to you, bearing in mind that most of the theory presented by Emms is not vulnerable to sudden new discoveries, the book is available via Amazon for around £10. For what it is worth, I used the repertoire in Copenhagen to score +4=1-0 for a rating performance of 2234.
2...e6 3.g3 b6!?
I had been able to predict MT's first two moves, based on his earlier play in the tournament. But I had not expected ...b6, which in any case is not covered by Emms. Looking at ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, I see the text is only Black's sixth-most popular move, although it has been played by strong players including grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest.
4.Bg2 Bb7
I had a bit of a think here. The normal repertoire recommended by Emms is based around d3, Be3 and Qd2 before White develops his king's knight. But that is aimed at combatting Black's commonest Closed Sicilian strategy of fianchettoing his king's bishop. I decided that in the particular circumstances of this game, I should postpone as long as was reasonable a decision on whether to play d3 or d4. The game continued:
5.Nge2 Nc6 6.0-0 g6?
I gave this move a "dubious" annotation (?!) in my review for Weekend Chess Magazine, and Lane did the same in his chesspublishing.com article, but I now think a straight question-mark is correct. Lane wrote: "Normally, when Black plays an early ...e6 he puts his bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal. The problem with trying to fianchetto is that it leaves d6 weak. White exploits this detail with remarkable ease."
Lane gave this an exclamation mark. I got the idea from grandmaster Andrew Soltis's 1990 Chess Digest booklet Beating The Sicilian Defense - Chameleon Variation. The idea of the Chameleon is to wait to see Black's set-up before deciding whether it is better countered with a Closed (d3) or Open (d4) Variation.
Lane wrote: "In the 'Closed Sicilian' there are times when White needs to advance the d pawn in order to take advantage of Black's inaccurate move-order. Here the English player and distinguished journalist plays with great style." There is then a link, that no longer works, to the game, and, presumably, more analysis. But we are not missing much as the game only lasts another 12 moves.
7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bg7
There is another game in Mega19 in which a 2245 played 8...a6, but only managed to reach move 16 before throwing in the towel.
 |
| White to make his 9th move and seriously embarrass Black |
*****
*****
*****
*****
9.Ndb5 Bf8 10.Nd6+ Bxd6 11.Qxd6 Qb8 12.Nb5 Qxd6
The best move, according to analysis engines. Contrary to first impressions, it does not lose a piece to a fork, but that does not matter as Black's position is already completely gone.
13.Nxd6+ Ke7 14.e5
14.Nxb7 is met by 14...Rb8, when White's knight is trapped.
14...Rb8 15.Rd1 h6
For a while, this is Komodo9's second-choice (to 15...Ba8). The move prevents Bg5, but that is not the only way the dark-square bishop can get at Black's king.
16.b4 Nd8 17.b5 Bxg2 18.Ba3 Ba8?
Allowing an immediate finish.
19.Nf5+ 1-0
*This must have been a Danish rating as MT seems to have entered the Fide lists in October 2002 with a rating of 1922, and is today 1979.
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