South Wales International Round Three
Scotch Opening
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3
This was very much the mainline, at least at club level, before Kasparov revitalised 5.Be3 and 5.Nxc6.
5...Bb6
5...Bb4+!?, a favourite of former European junior champion Oleg Romanishin, scores best in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Bg5
More popular is 7.Qe2, but both moves have been played by Carlsen.
7...h6 8.Bh4 g5?!
This has been played by some strong players, and is second in popularity to 8...d6, but it is very committal. The problem for Black is not just that the move to all intents and purposes rules out kingside castling, but it creates numerous weaknesses, especially the squares f5 and f6.
9.Bg3 d6 10.Qe2!?
Not liked by my main analysis engines, Stockfish10 and Komodo9, who prefer 10.Qd2, 10.h4 or 10.Bb5.
10...Be6
Played with my (faulty) next move in mind. The mainline runs 10...Qe7 11.0-0-0 Bd7 12.f3 with a position clearly better for White (Stockfish10) or equal (Komodo9).
11.0-0-0 Bxb3?!
Smyslov, and everyone else in Mega19 who reached this position, played 11...Qe7. I rejected it because of 12.Nd5 Bxd5 13.cxd5 Qxe2 14.Bxe2, when White has the bishop-pair, as in the game, but without doubled b pawns. However, this was wrong thinking on at least two counts: a) the doubled pawns are not weak, b) with queens off, Black is not in danger of being mated, and his kingside weaknesses are not so exploitable. Nevertheless, the text is for a time the second choice of both engines..
12.axb3 Qe7 13.f3 Nh5?
I get to chase White's pieces around with my knight but, as SW pointed out in the postmortem, nothing much is accomplished by this, not least because White's dark-square bishop is not doing much anyway, at least in the short-medium term. Probably best was 13...0-0-0.
14.Bf2
Even better, it seems, was 14.Nd5! I thought it was bad because of 14...Nxg3, but the engines point out the simple 15.hxg3, when Black has a major headache over where to put his queen. 15...Qe5 makes it a target for White's pawns, while 15...Qe6 is met by 16.Qe1! (allowing White's bishop access to c4, and at the same time covering g3). Even worse is 15...Qd8? as Black's king gets trapped in the middle of the board, while 15...Qd7?? loses instantly to 16.Nf6+.
14...Nf4 15.Qd2 Bxf2 16.Qxf2 0-0-0
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| Who, if anyone, stands better, and why? |
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I was quite pleased at having got rid of White's bishop-pair, leaving him with a bishop that is semi-bad. But actually this position is very good for White - my f4 knight will be driven back, his knight will occupy a great post at d5, and his bishop will have plenty of scope, either at b5 or at g2, in either case with latent pressure against Black's queenside.
17.g3 Ne6 18.Nd5 Qf8 19.b4 Kb8 20.Bg2 Qg7
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| Just four moves have passed between the two diagrams, but White's position has dramatically improved just as Black's has clearly worsened |
Somewhat cautious. I was more worried about 21.Rd3, which is Stockfish10's choice, while Komodo9's 21.f4 also looks strong.
21...Rhf8?
I never get to play ...f5, so the text just wastes time. An obvious try was 21...Ne5, which turns out to be the engines' choice, but White can ignore the move, if he wants, and complete development with 22.Rhe1, the point being that 22...Nc4 would just be a pretty gesture, rather like …Nh5-f4, as the knight cannot stay on c4 after 23.Bf1 or 23.Qe2.
22.Qc2 Ne5 23.Rhe1 g4?
A mistake - the result of wanting to "do something." More sensible was the calmer 23...h5, when White remains better, but the game continues.
24.f4 Nf3!?
Giving up a pawn to get rid of White's soon-to-be-powerful bishop. Not much better, if at all (Stockfish10 prefers my move, at least for a while), is the retreat 24...Nd7, when White has gained space and can slowly ratchet up the pressure on Black's queenside.
25.Bxf3 gxf3 26.Qf2 Qg4?
The pawn cannot be held, so this is pointless, but it is hard to come up with any active plan for Black.
27.Ne3
I now collapsed horribly. The remaining moves were:
27...Qh5? 28.Rd5 Qh3 29.Qxf3 c6?? 30.Rh5 1-0
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