Réti

Bradford U171 Round 4
Marek Soszynski (164) - Spanton (168)
Réti
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Bb2 b6 8.d4!?

Only fourth-most popular in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, but White scores 73% with it.

8...Bb7 9.Nbd2 Rc8 10.Rc1 c5 11.Ne5!?

The idea of White developing his queen's knight to d2 is largely so the dark-square bishop can support the king's knight occupying e5, but 11.Ne5!? may be premature as it allows Black to dissolve White's centre. The commonest move, as played by Korchnoi, Hübner and Ribli, is 11.e3.

11...cxd4 12.Bxd4 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Ng4 14.Bb2 Bf6 15.Ba3 Re8

15...Be7!? would be a tacit invitation to a draw, and psychologically was probably the best move as MS was a half-point behind me and so would have been more-or-less obliged to exchange his powerful dark-square bishop.

16.h3 Ne5 17.Nf3!?

This somewhat surprised me as I thought MS would want to keep pieces on. The analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10 suggest 17.cxd5, but rate the position as equal.

Black to make his 17th move

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17...Nxf3+

This seemed obvious, bearing in mind the tournament situation, but I should have seriously considered 17...dxc4!?, when the engines reckon best play is 18.Nxe5 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Bxe5 20.bxc4 Qc7, with a small edge to Black thanks to White's isolated queenside pawns.

18.Bxf3 Rc7 19.cxd5 Rxc1 20.Qxc1 Bxd5 21.Rd1 Qa8 22.Bxd5 exd5

Now it is Black who has the only isolani.

23.Qd2

A natural-looking move, but probably better was 23.e3!?

23...d4!

This equalises by fixing White's e pawn, which is why 23.e3!? would have been more of a challenge.

24.Qd3 ½–½
If 24.Bb2, then 24...Qe4 25.Bxd4 Bxd4 26.Qxd4 Qxe2, with complete equality.