My opponent, a junior (born 2004), allowed me to try to put into practice what I learned from writing my Beau Chess series on how Paul Morphy tackled the French Defence.
Despite that series finishing back on July 23, this is just my second chance to 'Morph' the French..
Spanton (1900/168) - Ieysaa Bin-Suhayl (2208/200)
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bd3 Ne7
A rule-of-thumb in the French Exchange as Black is that a good way to unbalance the position is to watch what White does with his king's knight. If it goes to f3, play the black king's knight to e7; if it goes to e2, play the black king's knight to f6. That is why 5...Ne7 is the most popular move here in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
6.0-0 Nbc6 7.Re1 Bg4 8.c3 f6!?
Second-most popular, albeit a huge way behind 8...Qd7. The idea is presumably to take away g5 from White's pieces, while possibly preparing a kingside pawn-storm.
9.Nbd2 Qd7 10.b4!?
This has been played by Leko, and is the most popular move in the position. The idea is to discourage queenside castling, but a less-committal way to do this was 10.a4, which avoids weakening the c4 square.
10...0-0 11.h3 Bf5 12.Nf1 a6!?
I failed to see the real point of this move - it is by no means just to prevent White driving the queen's knight away with b5.
13.Ng3 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 b5!?
Revealing the real point of ...a6 - Black clamps down on the c4 square, which will be occupied by a knight.
 |
| Position after 14...b5!? |
Too hasty. Better was a move such as 15...Bxg3, giving Black a choice of knight outposts at e4 and c4, or attacking on the queenside with 15...a5.
16.Nh5
Heading for e6, but the engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 give 16.Ne5!, the point being that 16...fxe5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.Rxe5 gives White promising kingside play. So the engines prefer 16...Qe8 with a small edge to White.
16...Nac8 17.Nf4 Nb6 18.Ne6 Rfe8 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.dxc5 Nc4 21.Nd4 Nc6 22.Bf4 Nxd4 23.cxd4 c6 24.Kf1 g5!?
Aggressive play. Black has the better minor piece, but if he allows the rooks to come off without penetrating White's position, it is doubtful if that is enough to win.
25.Bd2 Re4 26.f3 Qf5?
This shocked me, but it is a mistake. Black should have let the rooks come off.
27.Kf2?
Strong is 27.Re2 as 27...Rae8? loses to 28.Bc1! So Black has to exchange minor pieces or allow an exchange of queens, and in either case White is better.
27...Rae8 28.Qc3?
28.Be3 is equal, according to the engines, which reckon Black has to play 28...Nxe3 as, say, 28...h5?! is met by 29.Kg1 R4e5 30.Qxf5 Rxf5 31.Bf2 Kf7 32.Rxe8 Kxe8 33.Re1+, with an edge.
28...Rxe1 29.Rxe1 Rxe1 30.Bxe1 Qb1
The rooks have come off, but Black has penetrated with his queen, giving White a very difficult defence.
31.Qb3 Qa1 32.Bc3 Qc1 33.Be1 Nb2
Strong was 33...Kg7, as explained in the next note, but probing for a mistake with the text does no harm.
34.Ke2 Kf7?!
34...Qc4+ 35.Qxc4 bxc4 (not 35...dxc4? 36.d5!) looks promising, but White may be able to hold.
Best, according to the engines, was 34...Nc4, and if White repeats position with 35.Kf2, then 35...Kg7 seems to be zugzwang, or at least leaves White without a good move, eg 36.g3 Qa1 37.Bc3 Qh1, or 36.Qc3 Qd1 and eventually White's defence collapses.
35.Qc3?
I was going to play 35.Bd2, which seems to hold. I saw what was wrong with the text, but after some more thought I played it anyway.
35...Qd1+ 36.Ke3
Or 36.Kf1 Nc4 (36...Nd3 is also good), and the defence again eventually collapses, eg 37.Kf2 f5 38.Kf1 f4 39.Kf2 Kf6 40.Kf1 Qb1 41.a3 (41.Qb3?? Nd2+) Ne3+ 42.Kg1 Qa2 43.Bd2 Qc4+ 44.Qxc4 dxc4, and Black wins the minor-piece ending.
Also losing is 36.Kf2? Nd3+ 37.Kf1 Nxe1 etc.
36...Nd3 37.Bf2?!
This loses quickly, but the engines' 37.Bg3 is also hopeless after 37...Nc1.
37...Nf4 38.Qd2 Qf1 0-1
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