Tuesday 31 March 2020

Worth A Punt (part three)?

THE main line of the Englund Gambit remains 1.d4 e5!? 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7.
Black threatens to regain the sacrificed pawn, so White traditionally develops a piece while preventing a capture on e5, viz 4.Bf4.
This seems to have been first played by Alexander Alekhine in 1933. Two previous games in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database feature Swede Erik Lundin playing 4.Qd5, which is less convincing but is still reasonably popular today.
A much-less popular alternative to 4.Bf4 is 4.Bg5, although it tends to transpose to the main line after 4...Qb4+ 5.Nc3 Qxb2 6.Bd2.
But the most-popular move in Mega20 is 4.Nc3!?, which does not attempt to hold on to the e5 pawn. The main idea is that after 4...Nxe5, White can get on with developing his game, starting with 5.e4. This was tried in last year's high-level encounter Alexander Riazantsev (2645) - Saveliy Golubov (2469), 73rd Moscow Blitz, which continued 5...Nf6 6.Be2 d6 7.0-0 h6 8.Nd4 g6 9.f4 Nc6 10.Nd5, when White was better but the game was drawn in 71 moves.
Black usually meets 4.Bf4 with 4...Qb4, which can easily throw White into a panic. The main line continues 5.Bd2 Qxb2, but  Stockfish10 and Komodo10 prefer 5...Qe7!?, which was played by Golubov to draw against a 2699 in the same 73rd Moscow Blitz.
But while 5...Qe7!? might be a good practical choice, most Blacks opt for 5...Qxb2 in the hope White will fall for 6.Bc3?? Bb4!, after which White is lost, eg 7.Bxb4 (not 7.Qd2? Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1#) Nxb4.
White should instead meet 5...Qxb2 with 6.Nc3, when 6...Bb4 7.Rb1 Qa3 8.Rb3 Qa5 9.a3 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 Qc5 11.e3 leaves White with the bishop-pair and a lead in development. But material is level and Black has the better pawn-structure.
How should Black proceed?
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The normal continuation is 11...Nge7, but the engines prefer two moves that do not appear in Mega20, ie ...Nh6!? and ...b6!?
Looking at 11...Nh6!?, the engines continue 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 b6 14.Ng5 d5!? 15.g4!? (not 15.exd6?? Qxg5), when they much prefer White, but there is a lot of play left.
There is no doubt many Whites will be ready for 4...Qb4, but there is a virtually unknown, but highly promising, alternative, which will be looked at in part four of this series.

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