Winter Break

THERE was a smattering of snow in Mariánské Lázně overnight, but it probably will not last long as sunshine is forecast for much of the rest of the congress.

Snow in the town's central park

Here is my round-two game from the 50+ seniors this afternoon.
Jan Bartos (FM 2123) - Spanton (1854)
Pseudo-Chigorin
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 Bg4 4.Bg2 Qd7 5.0-0
More popular is 5.h3, but the text has been played by Caruana and Topalov.
5...Bh3?!
This gets rid of White's fianchettoed bishop, but it costs time. The main move in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database is 5...0-0-0, one point being that avoiding an exchange of light-square bishops with 6.Re1 may not be a good use of a tempo, although it was played by Tony Miles in a 1994 game.
6.c4 Bxg2 7.Kxg2 e6
7...dxc4 8.d5 Nb4 9.Nc3 is good for White.
8.Qa4 Nf6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Rd1N 0-0 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Ne5

How should Black reply to White's knight thrust - accept doubled c pawns or sac a pawn for active play?

*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
12...Nxe5?!
I rejected 12...Qe6 13.Nxc6 Qxc6?! 14.Qxc6 bxc6 as being obviously good for White, which it is. Indeed, Stockfish10 and Komodo10 narrowly prefer the text to this line, but they reckon White's advantage is much more manageable after 13...bxc6!?
13.dxe5 Qxa4 14.Nxa4 Ng4 15.Rxd5 Rfd8 16.Nc3 c6 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.f4
Black has temporary activity for the pawn, but it is easily neutralised.
18...Bc5 19.h3 Ne3+ 20.Bxe3 Bxe3 21.Rd1 Rxd1 22.Nxd1 (1-0, 38 moves)