The bad news is that I will be due the black pieces in both games in the first double-round day tomorrow.
Spanton (1934) - Andre Heidel (2178)
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5
My fifth attempt at playing against the French Defence in the style of Paul Morphy.
3...exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.h3!?
A double-edged move - not so much putting the question to the bishop, as trying to tempt Black to go for opposite-side castling now that he will have a target on h3 for a pawn-storm.
6...Bh5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Re1+ Nge7
 |
| White to make his ninth move |
*****
*****
*****
*****
9.c3
This is the most popular move in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, but I cannot help thinking Morphy would have found a way to make the developing move 9.Nc3!? work. In fact 9.Nc3!? is narrowly the choice of Komodo10, and if 9...Nb4, then 10.g4. White wins a central pawn after 10...Nxd3!? 11.cxd3 Bg6 12.Nxd5, albeit the extra pawn is doubled and isolated. Black can instead play 10...Bg6, when 11.Bxg6 hxg6 12.a3 Nc6 13.Nxd5 Rxh3 14.Nxe7 Bxe7 15.Kg2 gives White the upper hand, according to Komodo10.
9...Qd7 10.Nbd2 0-0-0
So I have got what I wished for.
11.b4 Bg6!?
11...Rde8 was played by Vadim Malakhatko (2612) in a win over a 2102, and is the choice of Komodo10, although both Komodo10 and Stockfish10 reckon White is slightly better.
I thought the text was a sign of AH worrying that my attack would come first. But he explained in the postmortem, if I understood him correctly, that he had an ending in mind in which he would play against my bad dark-square bishop.
12.Nb3
The engines prefer to preserve the light-square bishop with 12.Be2!? or 12.Bf1!?
12...Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Ng6?!
The engines reckon White is only a little better after 13...Qf5 or 13...Rde8.
14.Nc5?!
I rejected 14.b5 because I thought that, if anything, I would be helping Black relocate his queen's knight to the kingside, where his pieces look threatening. But after 14...Nce7 White has 15.Nc5, when the knight is very strong, and Black's queenside would be under tremendous pressure after 15...Bxc5 16.dxc5.
14...Bxc5 15.bxc5
15.dxc5 is not so strong as in the last note as Black gets access to the e5 square.
15...Rde8 16.Bd2
I was tempted to play 16.Be3 to keep rooks on so I could use the half-open b file, but I was worried, probably unnecessarily, about Black playing a rook to e4 and doubling on the e file.
16...Rxe1+ 17.Rxe1 Re8 18.Rxe8+ Qxe8 19.Qf5+?!
I thought getting queens off would make it harder for Black to attack my queenside weaknesses, but the engines give 19.Ng5, when 19...f6 20.Qf5+ Qd7 21.Ne6 Nge7 22.Qg4 g5 23.f4 h6 24.Qe2 is assessed as being slightly better for White.
19...Qd7 20.Qxd7+ Kxd7 21.Kf1 f6!?
AH was quite strongly critical of this in the postmortem, I think because it puts a pawn on a dark square, but the engines are happy enough with it.
22.Ke2 Na5 23.Kd3 Nc4 24.g3 Kc6 25.Ne1 b6!?
This surprised me, but the engines quite like the move (it hovers around being their first or second choice).
26.cxb6 cxb6
I presume AH hoped to later have chances of creating a passed pawn on the a file, but the engines narrowly prefer 26...axb6.
27.Bc1 Ne7 28.Nc2 a5 29.Ba3 Ng8!?
White completely equalises after this, but the move the engines eventually settle on, 29...Nxa3, does not seem to give serious winning chances either.
30.Bf8 g6 31.g4
Planning to meet 31...f5 with 32.g5.
31...Kd7 32.Ne3 Nxe3
The bishop is not trapped after 32...Ke8? as White has 33.Nxd5 Nb2+ 34.Kc2 Nc4 35.Bg7 Kf7 36.Bh8, when the bishop will escape.
33.fxe3 b5 34.e4 Ke6?
The simplest way to draw was probably the engines' 34...Ne7 35.Bxe7 Kxe7 36.exd5 Kd6 37.Ke4 Kd7, when there is no way for White to make progress. Note that 37.c4?? b4 is a winning pawn-ending for Black as White's king will not be able to cope with passed black pawns on both sides of the board.
35.a4?
Right idea; wrong execution. Correct was 35.exd5+ Kxd5 36.a4! with serious winning chances after 36...bxa4 37.c4+.
35...dxe4+ 36.Kxe4 f5+ 37.Kf4?
White has better chances of holding after 37.gxf5+ gxf5 38.Ke3 bxa4 39.Ba3.
37...bxa4?
Black is winning after 37...fxg4, eg 38.hxg4 bxa4, eg 39.Ba3 Kd5 etc, or 39.c4 Ne7 40.Bg7 Kf7! 41.Be5 a3 42.d5 h5 43.Kg5 hxg4, when White's pieces cannot cope with Black's passed pawns on each flank.
38.gxf5+ gxf5 39.Ba3 Ne7 40.c4 Ng6+ 41.Kf3 Kd7
AH explained he played this so d5 can be met by ...Ne5(+). The position is level, according to the engines.
42.Ke3 Ne7 43.d5 Ng6 44.c5 Ne5? 45.Kd4 Ng3+ 46.Kc4 f4?
This loses relatively easily. It seems Black still had a draw with the long line 46...Ne5+ 47.Kb5 f4 48.c6+ Kc8, eg 49.d6 f3 50.Bc5 a3 51.Bd4 Nd7! 52.cxd7+ Kxd7 53.Kc4 Kxd6 54.Kd3 a2 55.Ke3 Kd5 56.Ba1 f2 57.Kxf2 Ke4 58.Kg3 Kd3 59.Kf4 Kc2 60.Ke3 Kb1 61.Kd2 Kxa1 62.Kc1 etc.
47.c6+
Black is completely lost.
47...Kc7 48.Kc5 Ne5 49.d6+ Kc8 50.Bb2
50.Kd5 also wins.
50...Nd3+ 51.Kb6 Nxb2 52.d7+ Kd8 53.Kb7 a3 54.c7+ Kxd7 55.c8=Q+
The remaining moves were:
55...Kd6 56.Qf8+ Kd5 57.Qxa3 Nc4 58.Qf3+ Ke5 59.Kc6 Ne3 60.Kb5 Nf5 61.Kxa5 Nd4 62.Qh5+ Ke4 63.Qxh7+ Ke3 64.Qe7+ Kd3 65.Qe1 f3 66.h4 Ne2 67.h5 Ke3 68.h6 f2 69.Qxf2+ Kxf2 70.h7 1-0
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