Snow started falling as I returned to my hotel last night, and there was a heavy frost.
But this morning saw plenty of sunshine too, as these photos illustrate.
Gerhard Pichler (1715) - Spanton (1854)
Round 6
London System
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 Bd6 4.Bg3
Easily the most-popular move in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database.
4...Nf6 5.e3
Some players prefer 5.Nbd2 to prevent, or at least strongly discourage, 5...Ne4.
5...Ne4!?
Castling is the main move. Stockfish10 and Komodo10 are not keen on the text, presumably because it costs time.
6.Bxd6?!
This loses a clear tempo over 4.Bxd6. The engines like 6.Bd3 Nxg3, rating 7.hxg3 as giving White a small edge.
6...Qxd6 7.c3
Considering the bishops that remain, it makes sense to put pawns on dark squares. The text also removes the threat of ...Qb4(+).
7...0-0 8.Nbd2 Nd7!?N 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Nd2
10.Ng5 can be met by 10...f5, or the engines' 10...Qd5!?
10...f5 11.Bc4
11.Nc4 Qe7 12.Be2 was played in Sascha Georges (2310) - Urs Rüetschi (2265), 1993 Swiss Championship (½–½ ,19 moves).
11...Nf6 12.Qc2 Kh8 13.Be2!
The engines like this retreat, which vacates c4 for the white knight and does not lose a tempo as the black queen will have to withdraw.
13...Qe7 14.g3?
But I have no idea what this is about. Consistent was 14.Nc4 with a roughly level game.
14...e5 15.Nc4 exd4 16.cxd4 c5
The idea is to open lines before White castles and gets his rooks into play.
17.Rd1
The king will not be safe on the queenside after 17.0-0-0?
17...Be6 18.b3?!
Now Black gets an initiative.
Stockfish10 gives 18.dxc5 Qxc5 19.0-0 with perhaps a small edge for Black. Komodo10 gives 18.0-0 b5 19.Na5 c4 with what it reckons is equality, although Stockfish10 prefers Black.
18...Rac8 19.Qb2 b5 20.Ne5 c4?!
Probably too ambitious. The simple 20...cxd4 is good for Black after the forced reply 21.exd4.
21.bxc4 bxc4 22.Rc1 Rb8!?
Safer was 22...Rc7 as the c pawn cannot be taken, eg 23.Bxc4?? Rfc8 and White loses a piece.
23.Nc6??
Forking an opponent's queen and rook is always tempting, but here it loses.
The engines give 23.Qd2 Rfc8 24.0-0 Qb4 25.Qxb4 Rxb4 26.Rc3 Ne8!? 27.Rfc1 Nd6 with an equal position.
23...Rxb2 24.Nxe7 Rxa2?
Winning a pawn, but better was 24...Re8 25.Nc6 Rc8 26.Ne5 (26.Nxa7?? Rc7) Rxa2, which also wins a pawn without allowing White the counterplay he gets in the game.
25.d5!
The best try.
25...Bxd5?!
This lets White swop off into what the engines reckon is a drawn rook-and-pawn ending, so almost certainly better was 25...Nxd5 26.Bxc4 Nxe7 27.Bxe6 Ra6.
26.Nxd5 Nxd5 27.Bxc4 Rc8??
Black had to play 27...Ra5, when 28.Bxd5 Rxd5 gives an ending similar to the one in the game.
 |
| White to play and win |
*****
*****
*****
*****
28.Rb1??
Winning is 28.0-0 as my planned 28...Ra5 loses a piece to 29.Bxd5, since after 29...Rxc1 30.Rxc1 the bishop cannot be captured because of a back-rank mate threat.
28...Ra5?
Stronger is 28...Rc2 as White cannot play 29.Bxd5?? due to 29...Rc1+ 30.Rxc1 (30.Ke2? R8c2#) Rxc1+ 31.Ke2 and 31...Rxh1.
29.Bxd5!
The correct decision, according to the engines, who reckon the ending is drawn.
29...Rxd5 30.0-0 Rdc5 31.Rfd1 g6 32.Kg2 R5c7 33.Rd6 Kg7 34.Ra1 Rb8 35.Rda6 Rbb7 36.h4 Kf7
Bringing the king to the queenside is the only hope of making progress. But the engines continue to rate the position as dead-equal, not giving Black any credit for having an extra pawn.
37.Kh3 Ke8 38.Kg2 Kd8 39.h5 Rg7 40.hxg6 hxg6 41.Rd1+ Kc8 42.Rdd6 Kb8
Not 42...Kc7?? 43.Rac6+ Kb8 44.Rd8#.
43.Rxg6?!
Ironically, restoring material equality makes the defence trickier. An easy draw was to be had by 43.Rd8+ Kc7 44.Ra8 etc.
43...Rxg6 44.Rxg6 a5 45.Rg5?!
Easiest was 45.g4 fxg4 46.Rxg4 a4 47.Rxe4 a3 48.Ra4 Ra7 49.Rb4+ Kc7 50.Rb1 Kd6 51.f4 a2 52.Ra1 Kd5 53.Kf3, and Black even loses if his king heads for a1.
45...Rb5 46.g4 a4
 |
| White to play and draw |
*****
*****
*****
*****
47.Rh5!
This draws.
But not 47.Rxf5?? Rxf5 48.gxf5 Kc7 etc, nor 47.gxf5?? a3 etc.
The engines point out another draw: 47.Rg8+! Kb7 48.g5 a3 49.Rg7+ Ka6 50.Rg6+ Ka5 51.Rg8 Kb4 52.Ra8 Kb3 53.Kg3 a2 54.Kf4 Kb2 55.g6 a1Q 56.Rxa1 Kxa1 57.g7 Rb8 58.Kxf5 Kb2 59.Kxe4 Rg8.
47...a3 48.Rh1 fxg4 49.Ra1 Ra5 50.Ra2??
Losing a vital tempo. Drawing is 50.Kg3 Kc7 51.Kxg4 Kd6 52.Kf4 Ra4 53.f3 exf3+ 54.Kxf3 Kd5 55.Ke2 Kc4 56.Kd2 a2 (or 56...Kb3 57.Rb1+ Ka2 58.Rb8) 57.Kc2 as the white king arrives in time to protect the white rook.
50...Kc7 51.Kg3 Kd6 52.Kxg4 Ra4??
Another loss of a vital tempo. Winning is 52...Kd5 53.f4 exf3 54.Kxf3 Kc4 as the white king is too far away from the a file.
53.f4 exf3+ 54.Kxf3 Kd5 55.e4+ Kc4 56.Kf4 Kb3 57.Re2??
The final blunder. Drawing is 57.Ra1 Kb2 58.Re1 a2 59.Kf5 a1Q 60.Rxa1 Rxa1, when the remaining white pawn is too fast to be intercepted and caught by the black pieces (without giving up the black rook).
The game finished:
57...a2 58.Re3+ Kc4 59.Re1 a1Q 60.Rxa1 Rxa1 0-1
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