Tommaso Penna (196) - Spanton (168)
Spanish Open
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 a6 6.Ba4
White has a critical alternative, avoiding the Open Variation, in 6.Bxc6. The mainline runs 6...dxc6 7.Qe2 Bf5 8.dxe5, when Black has to choose between the equally popular 8...Be7 and 8...Bc5.
6...b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6
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| The starting tabiya of the Spanish Open - there are almost 10,000 games with this position in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database |
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9.Be3
Fourth-most popular, but it is a favourite of Bacrot and has also been played by Kasparov, Tal, Caruana, Short, Timman and Giri.
9...Be7
Most popular, but Carlsen, Kramnik and Anand have preferred 9...Bc5.
10.c3
The immediate 10.Nbd2 can be met by 10...Nc5, although it is not clear White should be worried about that. The engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 continue 11.Bxc5!? Bxc5 12.c3 0-0, when Stockfish10 prefers White but Komodo10 reckons the position is equal.
10...0-0 11.Nbd2 Qd7 12.Bc2 f5 13.exf6 Nxf6 14.Qb1!?
This was apparently first played by Guyla Sax in 1982, and has since become the standard move, although White only scores 39% with it in Mega19.
14...Kh8!?
The standard reply. 14...h6 has also been played, but I did not like the way it weakens the light squares.
15.Nb3
15.Ng5 was met by 15...Bg8 in Sax (2550) - Ruben Rodriguez (2405), Interzonal (Moscow) 1982, but even stronger is 15...Ng4! This was first played by Ivan Sokolov in 1995, the point being that 16.Nxh7 runs into 16...Rf5!, eg 17.Qd1 Nxe3 18.fxe3 g6!, as played in Surya Ganguly (2582) - Peter Heine Nielsen (2628), Fide World Championship (Tripoli) 2004 (0-1, 29 moves).
The text is Komodo10's choice at first, before switching to 15.Re1, while Stockfish10 likes the latter move and 15.b4.
15...Ne4!?
Apparently a new move. Oleg Korneev (2605) played 15...Ng4! in a 1995 win over a 2330, while Ilya Khmeniker (2404) chose 15...Bg4 in a 2006 win over a 2426. The engines reckon Korneev's move is best.
16.Nbd4
The engines at first give 16.Nfd4 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 c5 with an equal position. Stockfish10 switches to 16.Rd1 or 16.a4, slightly preferring White in each case.
On 16.Bxe4 dxe4 17.Qxe4, I intended 17...Bd5, when 18.Rfd1 (TP's suggestion in the postmortem) is met by 18...Rad8 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.Bxc5 Bxe4 21.Rxd7 Rxd7 22.Bxf8 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Kg8 24.Bc5 Rd2, with full compensation for the pawn, according to the engines.
16...Nxd4 17.Nxd4 Rf6?
Played without seeing White's reply. The engines give 17...Bg8, with Black more than equal if White captures twice on e4.
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| White to make his 18th move |
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18.f3 Raf8 19.Re1
Not 19.fxe4?? Rxf1+ etc. But TP's postmortem suggestion of 19.Bd3 is better. Black can reply 19...Nd6 or 19...Nc5, but in each case White has a pleasant choice between winning a pawn with 20.Bxh7 or, possibly even stronger, playing 20.Bg5.
19...Bh3!
Saving the day as neither en-prise piece can be captured with a pawn, ie 20.gxh3?? loses to 20...Rg6+ (20...Qxh3 also wins), and 20.fxe4? is met by 20...Bxg2!, totally exposing the white king.
20.Bxe4
Also possible is 20.Re2, when Stockfish10 gives 20...Rg6 21.Qf1 Bg4 22.Kh1 c5 23.Nb3 Re6, with equality, although Komodo10 slightly prefers White.
20...dxe4 21.Qxe4 c5?
Better was 21...Rg6 22.g3, and now 22...c5 with full compensation for the pawn-minus, according to the engines.
22.Bg5 cxd4 23.Qxe7?
White is winning after 23.Bxf6 Bxf6 (even worse is 23...Rxf6?? because of back-rank mate problems after 24.Qxe7) 24.gxh3.
23...Qxe7 24.Rxe7 Rg6 25.Re5 dxc3 26.bxc3 Bxg2
Also equal is 26...h6 27.Kf2 Rxg5 28.Rxg5 hxg5 29.gxh3 as White's extra pawn is meaningless.
27.Kxg2 h6 28.h4 Rc8
Simpler may have been 28...hxg5 29.hxg5 Rc6 30.Rc1 Kh7.
29.Kf2
The engines like TP's postmortem suggestion 29.Kg3, continuing 29...hxg5 30.hxg5 Rgc6, when Komodo10 reckons 31.a4 Rxc3 32.axb5 axb5 33.Rxb5 is slightly better for White, but Stockfish10's verdict of almost-equal is surely right.
29...hxg5 30.hxg5 Kg8
Good enough for a draw, but perhaps more precise was 30...Rgc6 (but not 30...Rxc3?? 31.Re8+ Kh7 32.Rh1), when 31.a4 Rxc3 is very similar to the previous note.
31.Rae1 Rgc6 32.Re6 g6!?
This comes to be Stockfish10's choice, but Komodo10 is less keen.
33.Kg3
Komodo10 gives 33.R1e5 Kg7 34.Rxc6 Rxc6 35.Re7+ Kg8 36.Ra7 Rxc3 37.Rxa6 Kg7 38.Kg3, with a slight edge for White. But the likely continuation 38...b4 39.Kg4 b3 40.axb3 Rxb3 has similar problems to those arising in notes to moves 29 and 30, namely White being left with two pawns, including one backward, against a blocking Black pawn.
33...a5 34.Kf4 Rf8+ 35.Kg4
35.Ke5?? Rxe6+ 36.Kxe6 Re8+.
35...Rfc8 36.Kf4 Rf8+ 37.Kg4 Rfc8 38.R1e5 Rxe6 39.Rxe6 Kf7 40.Rf6+ Kg7 41.Rb6 Rc4+ 42.f4 Rc5 43.Rb7+ Kg8 44.Rb8+ Kg7 45.Rb7+ Kg8 46.Rb8+ ½–½
Battersea 1 won the match 3-2.
My updated Battersea statistics for 2019-20
Event...Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL*.…...B....…..168...………169...………......W
CLL...…...B...…...168...………196...…………..D
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +1=1-0 for a grading performance of 208.
In season 2018-19 I scored +12=12-13 for a grading performance of 169.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.
*CLL: Central London League.
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