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| White has just captured on d1 in Yves Duhayon (2210) - Spanton (1984), Gibraltar 2012. Who stands better, and by how much? |
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White has an extra pawn-island, but has more space and the better minor piece for dealing with mobile pawn-majorities. Stockfish12 gives White the upper hand, but Komodo11.01 reckons White at best has a slight edge.
23...f5!?
Keeping the e pawn backward, at least temporarily, but making the f5 pawn a potential target for the white bishop.
24.Bf3
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24...b6!?
It was difficult choosing between this and 24...c6. The engines agree with my choice but reckon the difference between the two moves is only the equivalent of about a quarter of a pawn.
25.Ke2 Kf7 26.Kd3 Ke6?!
The engines much prefer gaining space with 26...c5.
27.Kd4 Kd6 28.c5+ bxc5+ 29.bxc5+ Ke6 30.Kc4 c6
I see from my original notes that Houdini1.5a reckoned Black equalises with 30...Kd7. It continued 31.Kb4 Nc6+ 32.Bxc6?! Kxc6 33.Kc4 g6=. But my modern engines reckon the further moves 34.a4 a5 35.h4 h5 36.Kd4 Kd7 37.Ke5 Kc6 38.Kf6 etc give White good winning chances - both sides will queen, but with White a pawn up.
However, as I had seen over the board, White has what seems to be a major improvement in 32.Ka4, playing for zugzwang, eg 32...g6 33.h4 h6 34.Bh1 Nb8 35.Ka5 Ke7 36.Bd5 Kf6 37.Bc4 Nd7 38.Bxa6 Nxc5 39.Kb5, after which the a pawn is powerful and the c pawn weak.
31.Kb4 Nd5+!?
The engines prefer 31...Kd7 32.Ka5 Kc7, but after 33.Ka6 White has a large advantage. Actually, after being shown the text, Komodo11.01, comes to prefer it. The practical advantage of the text is that it gives Black counterplay.
32.Ka5 Nxe3 33.Kxa6 Nd5 34.Kb7 Nxf4 35.a4!?
Stockfish12 gives 35.Bxc6, but Komodo11.01 prefers the text (after being shown it).
35...Nd3 36.Kb6 Ne5 37.Bd1?!
37.Bxc6!? Nxc6 38.Kxc6 f4 39.Kb7 etc is winning, according to Komodo11.01, but only slight better for White, according to Stockfish12.
Best seems to be 37.Bh1 (also strong is 37.Bg2), keeping pressure on c6, eg 37...f4 38.Kc7 f3 39.a5 f2 40.Bg2 etc.
37...f4?
Black has good drawing chances after 37...Kd7 (this would not work after 37.Bh1 as then 37...Kd7 is met by 38.Kb7, followed by advancing the a pawn) since White has less pressure on c6. So 38.Kb7 runs into 38...Nd3.
38.Bb3+?
Winning is 38.Kc7 followed by pushing the a pawn.
38...Kd7
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39.a5?
White draws with 39.Bc2, according to the engines. Possibly 39.Kb7 also holds, but is not clear.
39...f3 40.Bd1 Nc4+!? 41.Ka6 Kc7
The white king is trapped on the a file - the point of my 40th move.
42.Bxf3
White has restored equality in pawns, but only temporarily, and anyway Black is a pawn up on the kingside in what has become a battle between knight and bishop without the kings interfering.
42...Ne5 43.Be4 g6 44.Ka7 Nd7 45.Bc2 Nxc5 46.h4 Ne6 47.a6 c5 48.Ka8 Nf4 49.Be4 c4 50.h5 gxh5 0-1
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