Spanton (1840/170) - Ryan Cheung (1681/149)
Division 4, Board 1, Wessex C v West Is Best 3
Spanish Exchange
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Qxd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Be3 0-0-0 9.Nd2
If 9.Nc3, then 9...Bb4 is slightly annoying.
9...Ne7 10.f3
Normal is 10.0-0-0, but under the influence of my Lasker's Spanish Inquisition series, I wanted to keep my king in the centre/kingside as Emanuel Lasker often did in 5.d4 lines of the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez.
10...c5 11.N4b3 b6 12.a4?!
Castling long was still possible. The text creates a weakness as the white a pawn never manages to soften up Black's queenside, and anyway White is never likely to want to play axb6 as that would undouble Black's c pawns.
12...Nc6 13.Ke2 Be6 14.c3
Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer 14.Nc1 Nb4 15.Kd1, but give Black a large advantage.
14...f5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Ne4 h6 17.Rad1 Be7
The engines reckon Black should avoid allowing a rook-exchange, which lets White develop his king's rook, by playing, for example, 17...Bd7!?
18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.Rd1 Ne5?!
But now the engines reckon Black is much better after 19...Rxd1 20.Kxd1 Bd7.
20.Rxd8+ Kxd8 21.Nbd2 Be6
If 21...c4?, then 22.Bd4.
22.Bf4 Nc4 23.b3?
Correct is 23.Nxc4 Bxc4+ 24.Ke3, and if 24...Bb3, then 25.a5, when Stockfish10 reckons Black is slightly better, but Komodo10 rates the position as level.
23...Nxd2?
Black wins a pawn with 23...Na5 as 24.c4 fails to 24...Nxb3.
24.Nxd2 a5 25.Be5 g6 26.c4
White has stabilised the queenside and still has a kingside pawn-majority, but the bishop-pair is so powerful the engines reckon the position is dead-level.
26...Bd6!? 27.Bf6+!?
The engines reckon that after 27.Bxd6 cxd6 White may be slightly better, but I felt there were zero winning chances.
27...Kd7 28.g3 Bf5 29.Ne4 Ke6 30.Bc3 h5 31.Ke3 Be5 32.Bxe5 Kxe5 33.f4+ Ke6 34.Nd2 Bc2 35.h3 Kf5 36.Ke2??
36.Kf3 holds the balance.
36...g5?
Missing a win by 36...h4, eg 37.Kf2 hxg3+ 38.Kxg3 Bd1, when White is in zugzwang after 39.h4 c6, or 37.gxh4 Kxf4 38.Kf2 c6, and again White is in zugzwang.
37.fxg5 Kxg5 38.Kf3 Bf5
Black has to be careful after this. It was simpler to maintain pressure on the white queenside by 38...Kf5, as 39.g4+ hxg4+ 40.hxg4+ Ke5 seems strong for Black.
39.Ne4+ Kg6?
39...Kh6 40.g4 hxg4+ 41.hxg4 Bg6 42.Kf4 Kg7 43.Ke5 Kf8 holds.
40.g4 Bd7
40...hxg4+ 41.hxg4 Bd7 42.Kf4 also looks problematic for Black, as does 40...Be6 41.Kf4.
41.gxh5+ Kh6
Not 41...Kxh5?? 42.Nf6+.
42.h4 Bh3 43.Ng3 Bd7 44.Kf4 c6
There does not seem to be any defence.
45.Ke5 Bg4 46.Kd6 Bf3
Or 46...Bd1 47.Kxc6 Bxb3 48.Kxb6 Bxa4 49.Kxa5 etc.
47.Kc7 b5!?
This gives White chances to go wrong.
48.cxb5 cxb5 49.axb5 c4 50.bxc4 a4 51.Nf5+ Kxh5 52.Nd4 Bd1 53.b6?
Much simpler is 53.Nc6 a3 54.Nb4 as Black cannot stop one of White's queenside pawns promoting.
53...a3 54.b7 a2 55.b8=Q a1=Q 56.Qh8+ Kg4 57.Qg7+?!
Best, according to the engines, is 57.c5.
57...Kh3
Not 57...Kxh4?? 58.Nf5+ Kh5 59.Qxa1.
58.Qd7+ Bg4 59.Qd5 Kxh4
Now White only has a one-pawn advantage, which means Black draws if he can sac his bishop for the pawn.
60.Nb5 Qg7+ 61.Kb6 Qf6+ 62.Nd6 Qb2+ 63.Kc5 Qa3+ 64.Kd4 Qb2+ 65.Kc5 Qa3+ 66.Kb6 Bf3 67.Qd4+ Kh3 68.Nb5 Qa8 69.Qd7+ Kg2 70.Qc7 Qf8 71.c5
After a lot of manoeuvring, the pawn advances, but Black still has decent drawing chances. Stockfish10 reckons the position is equal, but Komodo10, which I think sometimes overvalues material differences in endings, reckons White has the upper hand.
71...Qf6+ 72.Qd6
 |
| Should Black exchange queens? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
72...Qg5?
72...Qxd6+ 73.cxd6 Bg4 74.Kc7 Kf3 75.Kc6 Ke4 76.Nc3+ Ke5 is a draw, according to Stockfish10, but Komodo10 still believes White has the upper hand. The Nalimov endgame tablebase shows exchanging queens does indeed draw.
73.Nd4
The engines agree White is much better.
73...Bg4?!
The bishop should surely stay on the long light-square diagonal, ready to capture if the pawn advances.
74.c6 Qc1 75.Qd5+ Kh3 76.c7 Qb2+ 77.Nb5 Qf2+ 78.Qd4?
78.Nd4 is better.
78...Qf5?
Stockfish10 reckons 78...Qxd4+ 79.Nxd4 Kg3 is a draw; Komodo10 has White winning. Again Stockfish10 is correct, according to Nalimov.
79.Nd6 Qb1+ 80.Ka7 Qa2+ 81.Kb8 Qb3+ 82.Nb7 Qg3 83.Qh8+ Kg2 84.Qb2+ Kg1 85.Qb6+ Kg2 86.Nd6 Qh3 87.Qb2+ Kg1 88.Ne4 Qf3 89.Qd4+ Kg2 90.Qd2+ Kg1 65mins less 91.Qb4 Qf4 92.Qb1+ Kg2 93.Qb2+ Kf3 94.Nf6 Bf5 95.Qc3+ Kf2 96.Nd5 Qf3 97.Qd2+ Kg3 98.Qe1+ Kg4?
The engines have had White winning since Black's 78th move, but I was not finding it easy. However now White can exchange minor pieces and so eliminate Black's ...BxP drawing resource.
99.Ne3+ Kf4 100.Nxf5 Qb3+ 101.Kc8 Kxf5 102.Qe8 Qb6 103.Qe7 Kf4 104.Kd7 Qb5+ 105.Kd8 Qd5+ 106.Ke8 Qa8+ 107.Kf7 Qd5+ 108.Kg6 Qg2+ 109.Kh7 Qh3+ 110.Kg8 Qg4+ 111.Kf8 Qc8+ 112.Kf7 Kf3
The checks have effectively run out as 112...Qf5+? loses trivially to 113.Qf6.
113.Qd8 Qb7 114.Qd7 Qb3+ 115.Kf8 Qb4+ 116.Qe7 Qb7 117.Kg7 Kg3 118.Qe5+ Kf3 119.Kg6 Kg2 120.Kg5 Qc8 121.Qe4+ Kg3 122.Qf4+ Kh3 123.Qh4+ 1-0
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