Belgrade Round Five

FACED an unrated (born 2000) on bottom board today.

Luka Petković - Spanton (1831)

34th Belgrade Trophy International Round 5

Evans' Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bd6!?

This is the Stone-Ware Defence. The only bishop-retreat less popular in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database is 5...Bf8?!

6.d4 Nf6

Alexander McDonnell played 6...h6!? in game six of his fourth match against Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais in 1834.

7.Nbd2

McDonnell perhaps feared 7.Bg5 or possibly 7.Ng5, although neither seems particularly frightening for Black.

The normal move in Mega20 is 7.0-0, but LP explained afterwards he played the text, which has also been played by Russian IM Bogdan Belyakov, to protect e4. However, after 7.0-0 the move 7...Nxe4? fails to 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Bxe5 10.Qd5.

7...0-0 8.Qc2!?

This may be a novelty. Castling is again normal.

8...b6

My analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 reckon Black should take the chance to free his congested position with 8...exd4!? 9.cxd4 Be7. They do not believe White has quite enough for his pawn sac, but this looks exactly the type of position an Evans player thrives in.

9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2

This is the engines' choice. They reckon White has full compensation for a pawn.

10...Nh5

The f4 square is weak, as is the f5 square for Black.

11.Be2?!

Almost certainly better is 11.g3. Black is not well-placed to exploit light-square weaknesses around White's white king, and, if necessary, the white light-square bishop can be dropped back to f1. The text, on the other hand, does not cover f4 and makes the light-square bishop a target.

11...Nf4 12.Nc4??

White is already lost after this.

The engines give 12.Bc4 or 12.Rfe1, but prefer Black.

12...Ba6 13.Rad1!?

This becomes Stockfish12's choice, but does not save White.

13...Na5 14.dxe5

Even worse is 14.Nfd2 Nxe2+.

The game finished:

14...Nxe2+ 15.Qxe2 Bxc4 16.Qe3 Bc5 17.Qf4 Bxf1 18.Kxf1 Nc4 19.Ba1 Qe7 20.g3 f6 21.exf6 Rxf6 22.Qg4 Rxf3!? 23.Qxf3 Rf8 24.Qd3 Rxf2+ 25.Ke1 Qf7 26.Qd5 Rf1+ 0-1