Monday, 30 December 2019

Teenage Crush - The Details

HERE is my round-two game from Hastings yesterday.
Spanton (1951/168) - Sacha Brozel (2188/206)
English Symmetrical
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.e4!?
Going for a Botvinnik set-up (or a Nimzowitsch set-up if the king's knight is played to f3) is the most-popular option in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, but is not liked by the analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo10.
6...e6 7.Nge2 Nge7
Mikhail Botvinnik once had this position in a 1952 game ... as Black.
8.0-0 0-0 9.Rb1 b6 10.a3 Bb7 11.b4 Qd7 12.b5 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Ne2 f5
White to make his 15th move
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
15.exf5
Normunds Miezis (2518) - Vladimir Malakhov (2605), Porto San Giorgo 2000, saw 15.f3 e5 16.Bh3, when the engines reckon Black has an edge, but the game was drawn in 133 moves.
15...Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Nxf5N 17.Nf4 Ne7!?
This is Komodo10's top or second choice, depending on how much time the engine is given, but Stockfish10 prefers 17...Rae8.
18.Qg4 Rf5 19.Re1?!
Weakening f2 is unwise. The engines give 19.Qe2, but slightly prefer Black.
19...e5 20.Qe2?!
Probably slightly better is 20.Nh3.
20...Raf8
20...exf4?! 21.Qxe7 is fine for White.
21.Rb2 Qc8?!
The engines give 21...d5, and if 22.cxd5 Nxd5 23.Nh3, then 23...Nc3 is strong.
22.Qe4?
White had to play 22.Nh3, although Black is for choice after 22...d5.
22...exf4 23.Qxe7 f3+ 24.Kh1 Re5 25.Rxe5 dxe5 26.Qh4 e4
Black's position is overwhelming. The remaining moves were:
27.Bh6 Bxh6 28.Qxh6 e3 29.Kg1 e2 30.Rb1 Qf5 0-1

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