Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game (part five)

ALTHOUGH starting to build a centre with 4.c3 after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 is very logical, the most-popular move in ChessBaase's 2021 Mega database is 4.d4.

This is the same move as is commonly played against the Hungarian Defence: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7.

Sergei Tiviakov (2695) - Mihail Marin (2564)

Porto Mannu (Italy) 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4

Marin reckons 4.c3 is more consistent "from the strategic point of view."

4...exd4

More popular in Mega21 is 4...Bg4, which I will cover later, but the text is the choice of Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01.

5.Nxd4 g6!?

A rare move that is the speciality of Argentine grandmaster Leonardo Tristan.

The main line runs 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0, after which David Sedgwick (2095) - Spanton (2115), Isle Of Man 1998, saw 8.Nxc6!? bxc6 9.f4 Bb7 (the engines like 9...d5!?) 10.Qe1 Re8 with what the engines reckon is a slight edge for Black (½–½, 28 moves).

6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 Nf6 8.f3 0-0

Position after 8...0-0

9.Nxc6!?

This is Stockfish12's choice.

Magnus Carlsen (2972) - Leonardo Tristan (2540), Chess.com Internet Blitz 2017, went 9.Qd2 Ne5 10.Be2 a6 (Tristan later switched to 10...d5!?, which is preferred by the engines) 11.0-0 (11.0-0-0!?) c5!? 12.Nb3, when the backward d pawn proved a long-term liability for Black (1-0, 43 moves).

9...bxc6 10.0-0 Re8 11.Re1 Be6 12.Bb3 Qb8!?

Marin: "Black has a solid position but has little space, which requires from him a very rational positioning of his forces. Black plans ...a5 and ...Qb4, aiming to force the exchange on e6 by a further advance of the a pawn to a4."

13.Qd2 Qb4

Marin calls this a "micro-mistake," saying he should have played 13...a5.

14.Ba4 Qb7

Marin says 14...Bd7 is not only passive but takes away the d7 square from the black knight. If Black had played 13...a5 rather than 13...Qb4, then the continuation14.Ba4 Qb7 would save a tempo on the game.

15.Ne2 a5

It is not clear that ...a5 is any longer particularly useful, so perhaps 15...Nd7!? is an improvement.

16.Bd4 Bd7

It is too late for repositioning the knight as 16...Nd7? drops a pawn to 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Qc3+ etc.

17.c4?!
This helps justify Black's 15th move by making Qb4 attractive. The engines prefer 17.b3, one point being 17...Qb4 can be met by 18.c3.
17...Qb4 18.Qc2 Nh5!?
Exchanging dark-square bishops often helps Black when White, as here, has set up a Maróczy Bind.
19.Bxg7 Nxg7 20.c5!? Ne6
20...dxc5!? is playable, but it would be wrong to think of Black then being a pawn ahead in a practical sense.
21.cxd6 cxd6 22.Rad1 Rad8 23.Nc3 Nc5 24.Kh1
Not 24.Rxd6?? as 24...Nxa4 wins a piece.
24...Re6
Marin says he should have taken the chance to play 24...d5! One point is that 25.exd5?? loses material to 25...Bf5.

25.Re2 Be8?!

The engines strongly dislike this. They prefer 25...Rde8, and if, as in the game, 26.Red2, then 26...f5, when the weakness of White's back rank comes into play.

26.Red2 d5 27.Rd4

27.exd5 is certainly no improvement -  again the weakness of White's back rank is crucial.

27...Qb7 28.Qd2

Marin says 28.Nxd5 cxd5 29.Qxc5 Bxa4 30.Rxa4 Qxb2 31.h3 gives White a large advantage. Komodo11.01 agrees; Stockfish12 reckons the position is equal.

28...Re5 29.exd5 Nxa4 30.Rxa4 cxd5 31.Rxa5 Qb4 32.Ne2! Rb8 33.Qxb4 Rxb4 34.Rd2 Bb5 35.Ng1 Re1

White's pieces have lost coordination, but he is a pawn up and has connected farside passed pawns. Stockfish12 reckons White is winning; Komodo11.01 gives White just a slight edge.

36.Ra8+ Kg7 37.Rb8 d4 38.h3 d3 39.b3 Rc1 40.a4!?

This seems better than 40.Rxd3 Bxd3 41.Rxb4 Rc2 42.a4 Bf1, when Black has at least a draw by repetition.

40...Rxb3 41.Rxb5 Ra3 42.Kh2 Raa1 43.Rxd3 Rxg1 44.Rd7

After sharp play White is a pawn up but the engines agree his advantage is small.

44...Rgb1

A general rule in such endings is that the side with the extra pawn wants no rooks on the board or all four - two tend to be drawish.

45.Kg3

Marin says 45.Ra5 runs into 45...Rd1, when 46.Rda7 avoids an exchange but is hopeless from a winning perspective.

45...h5

There seems no need to immediately exchange on b5, so Black sets up what is often an ideal defensive formation on the kingside.

46.h4 Kf8 47.Rd6?!

This allows Black to extinguish White's small winning chances. Better is 47.Rxb1 Rxb1 48.Rd4, when the game continues.

47...Rgb1

Black threatens 48...Ra2.

48.Rdb6 ½–½

Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game (part four)

A MORE-MODERN response to 4.c3 is to immediately attack the white centre with 4...f5!?

Claude Wagener (2235) - Ivan Sokolov (2656)

Vienna 2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3 f5!? 5.d3

5.Qb3 can be met by 5...Nf6!?, when 6.Bf7+ Ke7 is nothing special for White thanks to the threat of ...Na5, eg 7.Bc4? (Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 reckon best is 7.exf5 Na5 8.Qa4 Kxf7 9.Qxa5 Bxf5 with equal chances) Na5 8.Qa4 Nxc4 9.Qxc4 fxe4, which the engines reckon is already winning for Black. White should probably meet 5...Nf6!? with 6.Ng5 Nxe4 7.Nxe4 (not 7.Nf7? Qh4) Na5! 8.Qa4+ c6 9.Be2!?, when 9...b5 10.Qc2 fxe4 11.Qxe4 Qf6 is roughly equal, according to the engines.

The text is Komodo11.01's choice, but Stockfish12 prefers 5.exf5!? Bxf5 6.0-0, with a position somewhat reminiscent of the Ponziani.

Position after 5.d3. How should Black proceed?

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5...f4!?

This is Stockfish12's choice, although Komodo11.01 prefers 5...Qf6, which has been played by David Paravyan (2656) and Jiří Štoček (2595).

I suspect many club players would automatically reject the text because of the reply 6.d4, but the engines suggest meeting that with 6...Qf6 with an unclear position.

6.b4 Qf6 7.a4 Be7 8.a5 a6

White is playing moves that are normal in closed lines of the Italian Game. Both players have a tricky decision to make about where to place their kings.

9.Bb2 g5!? 10.Na3 g4 11.Nd2 Qg6 12.Qb3 Nf6 13.0-0-0!?

This is the engines' choice. It certainly looks safer than castling kingside.

13...Nd8!?

The knight is headed for the kingside, where Black has more room.

14.Qc2 h5 15.Rhe1 h4 16.d4 Nf7 17.Bd3 g3 18.fxg3 fxg3 19.h3 Nh5 20.Nf3 Nf4 21.c4?!

This may be too loosening. The engines suggest 21.Kb1 or 21.Bf1, which Komodo11.01 reckons give roughly equal positions but Stockfish12 prefers Black.

21...Ng5 22.Nxg5 Qxg5 23.Kb1 c5!?

The engines prefer opening the position with 23...exd4 24.Bxd4 0-0!?, although it looks rather unclear.

24.bxc5 dxc5 25.d5 0-0 26.Ka1 Bd6 27.Bf1 Bd7 28.Nb1 Rab8 29.Nd2 Ng6!?

Retreating - perhaps a better word is withdrawing - to allow the king's rook to enter White's position.

30.Be2?!

30.Re2 discourages 30...Rf2, although Black can play 30...Rf7 followed by 30...Rbf8.

Another way to stop 30...Rf2 is 31.Nf3, when Komodo11.01 wants to sac the exchange with 31...Rxf3!? 32.gxf3 Nf4 with promising but unclear play. Stockfish12 reckons 31...Qd8 is very good for Black.

30...Rf2 31.Bf3

This was the idea behind 30.Be2?!, but Black gets a strong initiative.

31...Nf4 32.Rg1 Rf8 33.Qc3 Ba4 34.Rdf1 Nxh3! 35.Rh1?!

Probably better is 35.Rxf2, but Black has won a pawn.

35...Rxf1+ 36.Nxf1 Nf2 37.Rg1 Be8 38.Ne3 Bg6 0-1

More On League Chess Returning

RECEIVED this today from Battersea Chess Club: "Lockdown restrictions are loosening and all the leagues and clubs are beginning to think about how we will get back up and running again.

"The London Chess League is talking about a restarting [sic] over the board in September/October.

"We decided in a committee meeting on Friday night that Battersea would recommend the unfinished 2019/21 season be abandoned and the league should restart with [the] new 2021/22 season.

"We await what the decision is. We have not heard from the Central London League, but hope to get in contact with them soon."

Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game (part three)

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3, the main point of playing 4...Bg4 is to put pressure on the centre that White is building.

However, as Andrew Soltis points out in Winning With The Giuoco Piano And The Max Lange Attack (Chess Digest 1992), White can immediately play d4 anyway.

Miguel Najdorf - Izak Aloni

Polish Championship (Jurata) 1937

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.c3 Bg4 5.d4

The actual move-order of the game was 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Bg4 5.c3.

How should Black proceed?

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5...Bxf3!?

Most popular in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database is 5...Nf6, but 6.Qb3 seems a good reply.

Soltis implies that Black's best is to strongpoint e5 with 5...Qe7, when Grigory Levenfish - Alexander Tolush, USSR Championship (Leningrad) 1939, continued 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Qb3 Nd8 (Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 prefer the sharp 7...0-0-0!?) 8.Nbd2 g6 9.dxe5, after which "White has the usual advantage in space," although Tolush won the game. Black could grab a pawn with 6...exd4!? 7.cxd4 Qxe4, but Soltis says 8.Nc3 Qg6 9.Nb5 gives "more than enough compensation."

Interesting is Mikhail Tal's 5...Qd7!?, after which White's score drops below 50%. The engines want White to gain space with d5!?, either immediately or over the next few moves, but in practice the usual continuation has been 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nbd2, when the engines reckon 7...exd4 gives Black at least equality.

All these lines need further testing - the Semi-Italian is not seen often enough to give definite verdicts in most lines.

6.gxf3

Also possible is 6.Qxf3 as White then has a double-attack on f7. Viacheslav Ragozin - Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, USSR Championship Semi-Final (Leningrad) 1936, saw 6...Qf6 7.Qd3 exd4 8.Bb5!? Qg6!? 9.0-0, when Ilyin-Zhenevsky grabbed a pawn with 9...dxc3?! and came under a very strong attack (but ½–½, 41 moves). The engines reckon ....Nge7, at move nine or, even better, at move eight, is more solid.

6...exd4 7.cxd4 Qf6 8.Be3 g6 9.Nc3 Nge7 10.Qa4!?

Komodo11.01's choice. Stockfish12 prefers 10.h4.

10...Qxf3!?

A brave decision. The engines approve, but much prefer White.

11.Rg1 0-0-0?

Castling into it, but White also has lots of play after the engines' 11...Kd8!? or 11...Bg7.

12.d5 Ne5 13.Be2 Qf6 14.Qxa7 Nf3+ 15.Kd1!

This is better than preserving the rook with 15.Bxf3, according to the engines.

15...Nxg1 16.Bb5 Qf3+ 17.Kd2 c6 18.dxc6 Nxc6 19.Qa8+ Kc7 20.Nd5+ Kd7 21.Qxb7+ Ke6 22.Nf4+ Ke6 23.Qxc6

White has a pawn and the bishop-pair for the exchange, but the complications are not over.

23...Bh6 24.Be2

Good enough, but the engines give a mating line: 24.Qc3+ Ke7 25.Qc7+ Kf6 26.Bd4+ Kg5 27.Qe7+ Kxf4 28.Rxg1, when Black can only delay, but not prevent, checkmate by giving up his queen.

24...Qxf4 25.Bxf4 Bxf4+ 26.Kd3?!

It was probably time to concentrate on king safety. The engines reckon White is still winning after 26.Ke1.

26...Nh3 27.Bf3?

The defensive 27.Rf1!? is best, according to the engines.

27...Rc8 28.Qa4 Be5

Black's king is suddenly looking the safer.

29.Rb1 Ra8 30.Qd7 Nf4+ 31.Ke3 Rxa2 32.Bd1 Rb8 33.b4 Ne6 34.Kf3?

34.Bb3, which was surely the point of 32.Bd1, is equal, according to the engines.

34...Bd4 35.Bb3 Rxf2+ 36.Kg3 Rxb4 37.e5+ dxe5?

37...Kg7 wins.

38.h4?

38.Bxe6 Rxb1 39.Qxf7+ Kg5 40.Qe7+ Kh6 41.Qh4+ etc draws.

38...Kg7

Now the king is safe, and Black has a winning advantage.

39.h5 Rd2 40.h6+

Najdorf tries to conjure up a perpetual, but there is none.

40...Kxh6 41.Rh1+ Kg7 42.Rxh7+ Kxh7 43.Qxf7+ Kh6 0-1

League Chess On The Horizon

NOT much news on the congress front in the UK, but the 4NCL has announced dates for its 2021-22 season.

There is a caveat, as one would expect, from chairman Mike Truran: "The dates may be affected (or indeed may need to be cancelled) should the Covid-19 situation not evolve as HM Government hopes."

But it's a start!

Weekend 1 | Rounds 1-2

20-21 November 2021

Division 3 South Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes

Division 3 Central Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa

Division 3 North Holiday Inn, Doncaster

 

27-28 November 2021

Divisions 1 & 2 Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes

 

Weekend 2 | Rounds 3-4

15-16 January 2022

Divisions 1 & 2 Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes

Division 3 South Holiday Inn Maidenhead/Windsor

Division 3 Central Mercure Daventry Court Hotel and Spa

Division 3 North Holiday Inn, Doncaster

 

Weekend 3 | Rounds 5-6

12-13 February 2022

Divisions 1 & 2 Mercure Daventry Court Hotel and Spa

Division 3 South Holiday Inn Maidenhead/Windsor

Division 3 Central Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa

Division 3 North Mercure Bolton Georgian House

 

Weekend 4 | Rounds 7-8

26-27 March 2022

Divisions 1 & 2 Mercure Daventry Court Hotel and Spa

Division 3 South Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes

Division 3 Central Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa

Division 3 North Mercure Bolton Georgian House

  

Weekend 5 | Rounds 9-11

30 April-2 May 2022

Divisions 1 & 2 Mercure Daventry Court Hotel and Spa

Division 3 South Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes

Division 3 Central Woodland Grange, Leamington Spa

Division 3 North Mercure Bolton Georgian House

Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game (part two)

ONE of the best-known games in the Semi-Italian: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 is from a simultaneous exhibition.

It reaches the starting point of the Semi-Italian from a Philidor move-order, and owes its fame to being included by Alekhine as among his best games.

M. Rodzinski - Alekhine

Paris (simul) 1913

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.c3 Bg4

The most-popular move, after which play can get very sharp. There is much less theory on the Semi-Italian than there is on other Italian lines, eg the Guioco Piano, the Two Knights Defence and the Evans Gambit. But it certainly helps to know the basic ideas. The point of 4...Bg4 is to put pressure on the centre that White is building, and is part of Black's plan to play on the kingside, which is where his central pawns are pointing.

5.Qb3!?

This critical response has been given a question mark, for example in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database, but is the choice of the analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01.

Most popular in Mega21 is 5.d3, after which Martin Beardsley (unrated) - Spanton (unrated), Sinclair (correspondence) 2012, went 5...Qd7 6.Nbd2 (a young Vladimir Kramnik played 6.b4 g6 7.Nbd2 in a 1990 game) Nf6 (Mega21 has three games with 6...Na5 and one with 6...0-0-0, but the text transposes to a known position) 7.Nf1 d5!? (but this may well be a real novelty) 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Ne3 Be6 10.Ng5 Nxe3 11.Bxe6? (11.Bxe3 Bxc4 12.dxc4 Rd8 13.Qxd7+ Rxd7 is slightly better for Black, according to Stockfish12; equal, according to Komodo11.01) Nxg2+ 12.Kf1 fxe6 13.Kg2 0-0-0, when Black's extra pawn may not count for much but pressure down the d file and having the safer king do (0-1,  24 moves).

Also slightly more popular than the text is 5.h3, after which Päivi Walta (1808) - Spanton (1975), Riga, Latvia, 2012, continued 5...Bh5 6.d3 Be7 7.Bb3 Nf6 8.Nbd2 Qd7 9.Nf1 d5!? 10.Ng3!? (not in Mega21, but it is the engines' choice) Bg6 11.Qe2 0-0 12.0-0 (12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Qxe5 wins a pawn, but Black is better after the engines' 13...Nb4!!) Rad8 13.Bd2 Rfe8 14.Rad1, which the engines reckon is slightly better for White (but 0-1, 55 moves).

5.0-0 Qf6 6.d3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 Qxf3 8.gxf3 was about equal in John E Richards (2050) - Spanton (2115), British Major (Torquay) 1998 (½–½, 43 moves).

5...Qd7

5...Na5?! 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Qa4 seems good for White.

How should White proceed?

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6.Ng5!?

White has two tempting alternatives.

6.Bxf7+ Qxf7 7.Qxb7 Kd7! 8.Qxa8 Bxf3 9.d3! (9.gxf3 Qxf3 gives Black huge compensation) Bxg2 10.Rg1 Bf3 with advantage to Black, according to the engines.

6.Qxb7 Rb8 7.Qa6 Be7! (Jonny Hector's move, which comes to be the engines' choice) 8.d3 Bxf3 9.gxf3, when both engines like White but disagree as to how much advantage White has. In any event White will have long-term problems with king safety.

6...Nh6

The engines much prefer the untried - at least it is not in Mega21 - 6...Nd8!?, which covers b7 as well as f7.

7.Bxf7+?

The engines like 7.Qxb7!? (not in Mega21) Rb8 8.Qa6 Be7 9.d3, when they put great stock in White's extra pawn.

7.Nxf7 can be met by 7...Na5 8.Qb4 Nxc4 9.Nxh6 (9.Nxh8 Nb6 seems better for Black) gxh6 10.Qxc4 Be6 11.Qe2 Rg8, when Black has good compensation for a pawn.

7...Nxf7 8.Nxf7 Qxf7?

Missing the winning 8...Be6, but without the text we would not get to see the spectacular finish for which this game is famous.

9.Qxb7 Kd7!?

Stockfish12 much prefers 9...Rd8 10.Qxc6+ Bd7, claiming Black has an edge, despite being two pawns down. Komodo11.01 likes the text as much as 9...Rd8.

10.Qxa8 Qc4 11.f3

The only move to keep the game going.

11...Bxf3!?

Also interesting is 11...Nd4!? 12.d3! Nxf3+! (12...Qxd3 13.cxd4 Bxf3 14.Nc3!) 13.gxf3+ Qxd3 14.Qd5! (14.fxg4 Be7!) Qxf3 15.Qb5+, which the engines reckon is dead-equal, eg 15...Kd8 16.Qb8+ Kd7 17.Qb5+ etc.

12.gxf3 Nd4!?

The engines reckon 12...Qd3 is also a draw.

13.d3?

White had to play 13.cxd4, after which 13...Qxc1+ 14.Ke2 Qxh1 15.dxe5 dxe5 is equal, according to the engines.

13...Qxd3

13...Nxf3+? 14.Ke2.

14.cxd4 Be7! 15.Qxh8 Bh4#

Alexander Alekhine's Forgotten Weapon Against The Italian Game

AFTER 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Black normally plays 3...Bc5 (more than 107,000 examples in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database) or 3...Nf6 (almost 80,000 examples).

Other moves seen reasonably often include 3...Be7 (more than 12,000 examples) and 3...h6!? (more than 5,000 examples).

What I am covering in this series is yet another continuation, called the Semi-Italian Opening by Wikipedia, starting with 3...d6!?

The position can also be reached via the Philidor, ie 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6.

The starting position of the Semi-Italian

Grandmaster Andrew Soltis in Winning With The Giuoco Piano And The Max Lange Attack (Chess Digest 1992) calls this line Alekhine's Variation.

He writes: "This early favourite of Alexander Alekhine's prepares to exert pressure on the centre with ...Bg4 in connection with either ...Qe7 and ...g6 or ...Qf6 and ...0-0-0."

Here is Alekhine playing the line after he had become world champion.

Henri Grob - Alekhine

Zürich 1934

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6!? 4.c3

Slightly more popular in Mega21 is 4.d4, but the text has also been played by grandmasters. For what it is worth, the analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 prefer the text.

4...Be6!?

The main move is 4...Bg4.

Soltis warns that "4...Nf6? walks into 5.Qb3 Qd7 6.Ng5." However this seems very good for Black after 6...Qg4, when White has problems defending the g2 and e4 pawns as well as his king's knight. However, 4...Nf6?! probably is bad, despite being the third-most popular move in Mega21, as White has 5.Ng5 d5 6.exd5, which is the same as a famous line in the Two Knights Defence except White has the extra move c3.

5.Bxe6 fxe6 6.Qb3 Qc8 7.Ng5 Nd8 8.d4 Nf6!?

This counterattack against e4 seems best.

9.dxe5 dxe5 10.0-0

10.Qb5+!? Nc6 11.Qc4 Nd8 12.f4 Bd6 13.0-0 was roughly equal, according to the engines, in Boris Kantsler (2491) - Yaacov Zilberman (2473), Israeli Team Championship 2003 (½–½, 23 moves).

10...h6 11.Nf3 Bd6 12.Nbd2 0-0 13.Qc2!?

The engines prefer the natural-looking 13.Nc4, although White is slightly better after the text too.

13...Nc6 14.b4 a6 15.a4 Qe8 16.Bb2 Ne7 17.Rad1 Ng6

Black's doubled central pawns look a liability, but they give him an extra half-open file and therefore kingside attacking chances.

18.g3 Qc6 19.Rfe1?

An extraordinary mistake for a top-class player to make. The engines give White a slight edge after 19.Ba3 or 19.Qb3!?

19...Bxb4 20.Kg2 Kh7 21.h3 Bd6 22.c4 Nd7 23.h4 b6 24.h5 Ne7 25.Re2 Qb7 26.Qc1 Nc6 27.Qa1 Rf7 28.Nh4 Ne7 29.Ndf3 Qc6 30.Nxe5 Nxe5 31.Bxe5 Qxc4 32.Rdd2 Bxe5 33.Qxe5 Nc6 34.Qa1 Rd8 35.Rc2 Qd4 36.Qc1?

White is still in the game, albeit a pawn down, after 36.Qxd4 Nxd4 37.Red2.

36...Ne5 37.Rxc7?

Better, according to the engines, is 37.Qb2 Qxb2 38.Rxb2, although Black is well on top.

37...Nd3

Grob must have missed this. It is fair to say this was not his day.

38.Qc3 Rxf2+ 39.Rxf2 Qxf2+ 40.Kh3 Qf1+ 41.Kh2 Qe2+ 42.Kg1

42.Kh3 Nf2+ leads to a quick mate.

42...Qf2+ 43.Kh1 Qxg3 0-1

To be continued

Name That Book 18

BELOW are three chapter titles from a famous chess book. Can you name that book?

After the Match that Never was
Round the World with the Flying Man from the Urals
What was Decided in Caracas

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Clue: the book is a biography of a player of whom Botvinnik said, "The boy does not have a clue about chess."

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Chess Is My Life by Anatoly Karpov & Aleksandr Roshal

Pent-Up OTB Demand

AS England slowly emerges from Lockdown 3, along with the rest of the UK, the big question for chess lovers is how popular over-the-board events will prove.

I expect the first congresses, which presumably will not occur before June, could be over-subscribed.

They should be particularly popular with juniors, double-vaccinated seniors and anyone who is simply desperate to get playing again and does not mind risking consequences.

Other people, however, reckon the return to OTB chess will be much slower, with would-be players holding back to see how the pandemic is progressing.

In Europe, much of which is experiencing a third wave, lockdown measures are increasing rather than reducing.

But this is a relatively recent happening, and not so long ago European chess players were hoping to get back into OTB action within a few weeks.

One such tournament is Bamberg in Bavaria.

I played there three years ago when the local chess club marked 150 years since its founding.

The congress was repeated in 2019, was postponed last year, and was due to be held this year from May 12-15.

Looking at the congress website today, I see it has already reached its limit of 240 entries, with a further 32 names on a waiting list: https://bamberg-open.de/#

The way things are going in Germany it may well be Bamberg will have to be cancelled again, but the fact that until recently, at least, so many people were keen to play is surely a good sign, and a hint of what may occur in the UK in the summer.

Knight v Bishop (conclusions)

THIS series has looked at bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that had equal pawns but did not end in draws.

There were none with eight pawns aside, and only one with one pawn aside, but that has been ignored as it arose with a mate-in-two on the board.

Here are the results of the other cases.

Pawns Aside........Knight Wins.....Bishop Wins

Seven                           9                        8

Six                               21                       7

Five                               7                       6

Four                               1                       5

Three                             3                       0

Two                                0                       2

Total:                            41                     28

The general wisdom has it that a bishop is more likely to outplay a knight when there are fewer pawns on the board.

At a glance it might be thought the results of this series fly in the face of this argument in that the knight won 59.4% of the games.

But that is largely because 84.1% of the positions began with 10 or more pawns on the board.

The knight's winning percentage in positions with 10 or more pawns is 63.8, which is almost identical to the bishop's winning percentage of 63.6 in positions with eight or fewer pawns.

Now 69 games do not constitute a large sample, but they do support the general wisdom that the more pawns there are, the happier is the situation, other things being equal, of the player with the knight.

Knight v Bishop (part 69)

Black has just captured on e4 in Spanton (170) - Russell Goodfellow (147), Doncaster U171 2020. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White has the better minor-piece for dealing with rival pawn-majorities, but Black has the more-active king. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon the position is dead-equal.

46.Bg7 Kd5 47.Ke2 Ng3+ 48.Kf3 Nf5 49.Bf6 Ke6 50.Bg5 d5 51.g4 Nd6+ 52.Bc1 d4 53.h5 Kf6 54.g5 Kf5 55.g6 Ne8 56.Bh6 Nf6 57.g7 e4+ 58.Kg3?!

This move loses a pawn, but, according to the engines, the position remains completely equal.

58...Nxh5+ 59.Kf2 Nf6!?

RG had been playing with the 10-second increment for about 20 moves. Here he could have effectively forced a draw with 59...Nxg7, but played on for more. The text leaves White with just two moves that maintain the draw, according to the Syzygy tablebase.

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60.Bc1

60.Bd2 also draws, but all king moves lose, eg 60.Ke1? Kg6 etc.

60...Ng8

If 60...Kg6, then 61.Bb2 and 61.Kg3 draw.

61.Bb2 Ke5 1-0 (Time)

Knight v Bishop (part 68)

SO far I have covered those bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that began with an equal number of seven, six, five, four or three pawns aside but did not end in draws (there were none starting with eight pawns aside).

The player with the knight won the seven-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 9-8, the six-pawn endings by the wide margin of 21-7 and the five-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 7-6.

The player with the bishop won the four-pawn endings 5-1, but the player with the knight won the three-pawn endings 3-0.

Taking all five sets of endings, the knight leads the bishop by 41-26.

I now move to bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that had two pawns aside but did not end in draws.

White has just captured on g4 in F Müller (1644) - Spanton (2058), Liechtenstein 2001. Who stands better, and by how much?

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The passed pawn, supported by the king, is decisive.

51...Ke2 52.Nf2 d3 53.Ne4 d2 54.Nc3+ Ke1 55.Kf3 Bb4 0-1

Busy Life?

THE English Chess Federation announced today it has appointed an events director.

She is Shoreh Bayat, which is an interesting appointment, not least because she does not have an ECF rating, although she does have Fide ratings for standard play and blitz.

Mike Truran, the ECF's chief executive, has released a statement explaining Shoreh's role: "Shohreh will have overall responsibility for organising and managing ECF over-the-board events, working closely with the home chess, women’s chess and junior chess directorates in particular, to ensure their seamless and coordinated delivery."

A cynic might suggest that, given the ECF's caution with regards to the return of OTB chess, an events director will have little to do.

In fact it might turn out to be rather a busy job in that, although the British championships in their usual summer format have been cancelled, there are plans to hold at least some of the events at various sites around the UK later in the year.

Knight v Bishop (part 67)

Black has just captured on f4 in Vladimir Koci (1607) - Spanton (1854), Mariánské Lázně (Czechia) 2020. Who stands better, and by how much?

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Neither side has an advantage, according to the analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1.

50.Kd4 Ng6 51.a3 Kd6 52.Bg3+ f4!?

White can now gang up on this pawn, but Black should be fine as long as pressure is kept on h4.

53.Be1

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53...Ne5?

My original notes show I somehow thought I was winning the f3 pawn.

Correct is 53...Ke6, or a similar move that allows Black to meet 54.Ke4 with 54...Kf6 (or 54...Ke6), preventing 55.Kf5.

54.Ke4 Ke6

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55.a4

Not 55.Kxf4?? Nd3+. But the engines point out the winning 55.Ba5!, eg 55...Ng6 56.Bd8, when Black is in zugzwang.

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55...Kd6?

Black holds the draw with 55...Ng6.

56.Bc3 Ng6 57.Bf6 Ke6 58.Bg5 Kf7 59.Kd5 Kg7 60.Kc5 Ne5

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61.Bxf4??

Winning easily is 61.Kb6 Nxf3 62.Bxf4 Nxh4 63.Kxa6, when the bishop stops the h pawn queening and the knight cannot interfere with the a pawn.

61...Nd3+ 62.Kb6 Nxf4 63.Kxa6

Despite the blunder at move 61, the position is dead-equal, according to the engines, but a position in which it is easy for either player to go wrong.

63...Kf6 64.Kb5 Nd5 65.Kc5 Ke6 66.a5 Nc7 67.Kd4 Na6 68.Kc4 Kd6 69.f4 Nc7 70.Kd4 Nb5+ 71.Kc4 Kc6 72.Kb4 Nd6

Here just one move draws for White.

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73.a6

White had to play 73.Kc3!, when one drawing line among many runs 73...Kd5 74.a6 Ke4 75.Kb4 Nc8 76.Kc5 Kxf4 77.Kc6 Kg4 78.Kb7 Nd6+ 79.Kb8 Nb5 80.Kb7 Kxh4 81.Kb6 Nd6 82.Kc6 Nc8 etc.

73...Nf5 74.Kc4 Nxh4 75.Kd3 Nf5 76.Ke2 Kb6 77.Kf3 Kxa6 78.Ke4 h4

The game finished:

79.Kxf5 h3 80.Ke6 h2 81.f5 h1=Q 82.f6 Qe4+ 83.Kd6 Qb4+ 84.Ke6 Qf8 85.Ke5 Qf7 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 66)

Black has just captured on b4 in R Hux (2054) - Spanton (2013), World Open Warm-Up Tournament (Philadelphia) 1995. Who stands better, and by how much?

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The position is dead-equal, according to Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1, but only if White finds the correct continuation.

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39.Ke2

This looks natural, and during the game I am fairly sure I thought it was forced, but the engines give 39.Bxf6! Then 39...a2 40.Ke2 Nc2 41.Kd2 forces 41...Nb4 with equality, according to the engines, but Black must avoid 41...a1=Q? 42.Bxa1 Nxa1 43.Kc3, which wins for White. A better try for Black is 39...Nxd3 40.Ke3 Nxc5, but the position is drawn, according to the engines, eg 41.Kd4 Nb3+ 42.Kd3 a2 43.g4 a1=Q 44.Bxa1 Nxa1 45.Kc3 etc.

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39...f5

This is probably enough for an advantage, but winning seems to be the engines' 39...Nd5!?, eg 40.Kd2 Kd7 41.Kc2 Ke6 42.Kb3 Kf5 43.Kxa3 Kg4 44.Bf2 Kf3 45.Be1 Ke2 46.Ba5 Kf2! 47.g4 Kf3 48.Kb3 Kxg4, when Black is effectively a pawn up.

40.Kd2 a2

This prevents 41.Kc3.

41.Ba1

Making 42.Kc3 possible.

41...Kd7 42.Kc3

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42...Nd5+

It seems the engines' 42...Na6!?, which is decentralising but puts pressure on c5, may be better.

43.Kb3 Ke6 44.Kxa2 Nb4+ 45.Kb3 Nxd3 46.Kc4 Nf2 47.Bc3 Ne4 48.Be1 Ke5 49.Ba5

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49...Nf2

Not 49...Nxg3?? 50.Bc7+ etc.

50.Bc7+ Ke4 51.Bd6 Ng4 52.Kb4!?

Stockfish12 is fine with the text but Komodo12.1.1 prefers 52.Kc3 or 52.Bb8.

52...Kd5 53.Kc3 Nf2

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54.Kc2

Not 54.Kd2?? Ne4+ etc.

But the engines like the somewhat surprising 54.Bc7!?, the point being 54...Kxc5 wins a pawn but is a tablebase draw.

54...Ne4 55.Bc7 Nxc5

This position too is a draw. Indeed, according to the Syzygy tablebase, White has 10 moves here that draw. Stockfish12 calls the position dead-equal, but Komodo12.1.1's verdict of a slight edge for Black is a better over-the-board assessment, at least for humans.

56.Kd2 Ke4 57.Ke2 Ne6

But now White has just two moves that maintain the draw.

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58.Ba5?

58.Bb8 and 58.Bd6 draw.

After the text, Black has one winning move.

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58...Nd4+!

58...c5 only draws after 59.Bb6 or 59.Bc3, according to Syzygy.

Note that after 58.Bb8, the move 58...Nd4+ is only a draw after 59.Kd2!

59.Kf2

Not 59.Kd2?? Nb3+.

After the text, Black again has to find an only-move.

59...c5! 60.Bb6 c4

Also winning is 60...Nb3.

61.g4?!

Very strange, but White is lost anyway, and perhaps RH hoped he would somehow be able to sac the bishop for the b pawn while picking up the other black pawn with his king.

61...fxg4 62.Kg3 c3 63.Ba5 c2 64.Bd2 Kf5 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 65)

SO far I have covered those bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that began with seven, six, five or four pawns aside but did not end in draws (there were none starting with eight pawns aside).

The player with the knight won the seven-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 9-8, the six-pawn endings by the wide margin of 21-7 and the five-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 7-6.

The player with the bishop won the four-pawn endings 5-1

Taking all four sets of endings, the knight leads the bishop by 38-26.

I now move to bishop-v-knight endings that had three pawns aside but did not end in draws.

White has just captured on d4 in Spanton (147) - K Majewski (131), Barbican (London) Major 1990. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White is winning, but the black passed pawn means the win is not as completely trivial as it might look.

47...Bg6 48.f7 Bxf7 49.Nxf7 h5 50.Ne5+ Kf4

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51.Kd5?

This allows a draw. Winning are 51.a4 and 51.Ng6+.

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51...a4

Not 51...h4? 52.Ng6+ Kg3 53.Nxh4.

But drawing, as Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 point out, is 51...Ke3!, eg 52.Kxc4 h4 53.Kb5 h3 54.Ng4+ (if 54.c4? then 54...Kf4 wins for Black) Kf3 55.Nh2+ Kg2 56.c4 Kxh2, after which both sides queen and the game is drawn.

52.Kd4 Kf5 53.Nxc4 h4 54.Ke3 Kg4 55.Kf2 Kf4 56.Nb6 Ke4 57.Nxa4 Kd3 58.Nb2+ Kxc3 59.a4 (1-0, 77 moves)

More Bad News From Europe

YESTERDAY lunch time the 30th Kyiv* spring chess festival, due to have started in the Ukrainian capital next Tuesday, was postponed to the second half of April.

A new start date of some time between April 15 and April 25 has been semi-promised.

However the chief arbiter, Olexandr Prohorov, has warned me the big problem is finding a venue as, it seems, the original university site will not be available then.

Meanwhile, either late last night or early this morning, the CzechTour updated its site to reveal that winter tournaments in Mariánské Lázně and Prague that had been postponed from January to April have now been cancelled.

Instead it is hoped to hold summer tournaments in Pardubice from July 15, Prague from August 7 and Sunny Beach, Bulgaria, from September 3.

This means that, for the second year running, there will be no festival in Olomouc.

The silver lining in all this is that I played at last summer's Pardubice and Prague events and can recommend them as well-organised with picturesque surroundings.

I posted about Prague on my blog starting with https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2020/08/czechthis-out.html.

*Kyiv is aka Kiev - it's a Beijing/Peking thing.

Knight v Bishop (part 64)

White has just captured on d4 in Spanton (169) - Angus French (183), Central London League 2017. Who stands better, and by how much?

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This position illustrates how big a factor having the more-active king can be. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 agree Black is better, but differ as to how much (+1.28, according to Stockfish12; +.68, according to Komodo12.1.1). But they agree that only one move maintains Black's advantage.

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41...Kb5 42.b3?!

This hardly helps.

However, desperately defending the d4 pawn with 42.Ke2 Kc4 43.Nb3 leaves White in zugzwang after 43...h5 44.h3 h4.

Best, according to the engines is 42.Nd3 Kc4 43.Ne5+ Kxd4 44.Nxf7 Bc1, but Black's advantages - the better minor piece, the more-active king and the only passed pawn - are probably enough for victory.

42...Kb4 43.Na6+?

Better, but still losing, is 43.Na4.

43...Kc3 44.Nc7 Kxd4 45.Nb5+ Kd3 46.Nxa7?? Be3+ 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 63)

White has just captured on f5 in Ton Goris (2007) - Spanton (1862), Bregenz (Austria) Seniors 2017. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White has four isolated pawns, two of which are doubled, but the key to this position is that White has a fast-moving passed pawn while Black's passer is well-watched by the white king. The engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1. agree White is winning.

41...g6 42.b5!?

Komodo12.1.1. reckons 42.gxf6+ is just as convincing, but Stockfish12 much prefers the text.

42...Na5 43.fxg6+ Kxg6

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44.Kd1

Not 44.Kd2?? Nb3+.

44...Kf5

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45.Bd6?

Preventing 45...Kf4, but the correct way to do this is 45.Be3.

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45...h5

This probably draws, but clearer seems to be the engines' 45...Nc4!, eg 46.Bc7 Ke6 47.b6 Kd7.

46.Bc7

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46...Nb7

Correct is 46...Nc4 47.b6 Nxb6! 48.Bxb6 Kf4, which Komodo12.1.1 reckons wins for White, but Stockfish12 is almost certainly correct in calculating it as a draw, eg 49.Bc7+ Kxf3 50.Kd2 f5 51.Kxd3 f4 52.Kd4 h4 53.Be5 Kg4 54.Ke4 f3 55.Ke3 Kh3! 56.Kf2 (56.Kxf3 is stalemate) Kg4 etc.

47.Kd2 Ke6 48.Kxd3 Kd5 49.Ke3 Nc5 50.b6 f5 51.Kf4 Ke6 52.Kg5 Nb7 53.f4 1-0

Knight v Bishop (part 62)

White has just captured on d7 in Wim van Hoek (1803) - Spanton (2051), Guernsey 2006. Who stands better, and by how much?

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Black is winning, but only one move will do.

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42...Ke6

The natural-looking text sets a trap, but the analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 point out that winning is 42...Bd4!, trapping the knight. If 43.Nc5, then 43...Bxc5 44.Nxc5 Ke6 45.Ke4 a5 wins. White can try 43.Nb8, but then 43...Ke6 44.Nc6 Kd5 wins either the knight or the b pawn.

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43.Ke4??

An extraordinary oversight. Also losing is 43.Nf8+? Kf7 (43...Ke7 44.Nxh7 Kf7 also wins) 44.Nxh7 (44.Nd7 Bd4!) Kg7, but 43.Nxb6 axb6 44.Ke4 draws.

43...Kxd7 0-1

Is Online The Future Of Post-Covid Chess?

I CERTAINLY hope not, and I expect over-the-board chess to return with a bang as soon as it is feasible.

That is likely to be from June in England, and maybe in the rest of the UK too.

In Europe the situation is more complicated - some countries may see a semblance of chess normality as early as May, while other places may be behind Britain.

Some people think a big increase in online chess is here to stay, and this view seems particularly common among those who have been organising and/or competing online.

It is interesting, therefore, to read the views of Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian president of the world chess federation Fide.

He is quoted in the latest issue of British Chess Magazine as saying: "Hopefully, we’re not going to have any long-lasting effect of the coronavirus on chess.

"We are hopeful that strict lockdown measures won’t be around for much longer as the vaccination will improve the situation globally.
"However, it would be naive to say that we’re not going to see the long-lasting effects in terms of the share of online chess.

"There will also probably be a more-cautious attitude towards mass tournaments in terms of precautionary health measures.
"The biggest thing is online chess. It provides better access to millions of people; it provides access to training, watching and playing chess, which is crucially important for growing the chess audience.

"Also, it’s fun to connect to people all over the world without the need to spend money on travelling.
"For the lovers of mass chess events, coronavirus will have a big consequence. But online is in no way a substitute [for] over-the-board chess - that’s the point I’d like to stress.
"As soon as the restrictions are lifted, we will see a big return to OTB tournaments, especially when it comes to major events.

"But for other levels of events – student festivals, corporate tournaments and similar - they will be mostly online.

"OTB will come back but it doesn’t mean that online will go away. I estimate the ratio between the two to be 70-30 in favour of OTB.

"That’s why it’s important to think of some balance of OTB and online events at the top level."
Asked about cheating online, he replied: "We already have algorithms that give you a reasonable degree of certainty that there is cheating. We are confident that we can improve that with the help of AI companies."

Knight v Bishop (part 61)

White has just captured on a2 in S Lifshitz (2119) - Spanton (2141), IECG (correspondence) 2006. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White has a protected passed pawn, but no means of defending d4. After that pawn falls, Black will have two passed pawns, and White will not be able to stop them both while at the same time defending the white kingside

45...Bh2 0-1

The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1. give best-play as 46.Kf3 Bg1 47.Ke2 Bxd4 48.Kd3 Bf2 49.Kc2 Bh4 etc.

Knight v Bishop (part 60)

White has just captured on a6 in Spanton (156) - Russell Goodfellow (155), Kings Head (London) U160 1990. Who stands better, and by how much?

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Stockfish12 reckons the position is equal, but Komodo12.1.1 gives White the upper hand (+.83).

42...Be2?

The engines give 42...e5, the point being Black needs a passed pawn to distract White from his queenside advantage.

43.Nc7?!

This may be good enough, but the engines prefer 43.Nb4, one point being 43...e5? fails to 44.Nc6+, while if, as in the game, 43...Kf6, then 44.Kd6 and 44.Nc6 are strong.

43...Kf6

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44.Nxb5?

White is still well on top after 44.Kd6, preventing ...e5.

44...Bxb5 45.Kxb5 e5

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46.fxe5+?

This loses. The engines reckon White wins with 46.Kc5 e4 47.Kd4, but the position is drawn, eg 47...Ke6 48.c4 Kd6 49.a4 Kc6 50.a5 Kb7 51.c5 Kc7 52.a6 Kc6 53.Ke3 Kc7 54.h3 h5 55.h4, when neither side can make progress, although Komodo12.1.1 still reckons Black is winning.

46...Kxe5 47.c4 f4 48.c5 f3 49.c6 f2 50.c7 f1=Q+

The game finished:

51.Kb6 Qb1+ 52.Kc6 Qc2+ 53.Kb7 Qb3+ 54.Ka8!? Qxa3+ 55.Kb7 Qb4+ 56.Ka8 Qct5 57.Kb7 Qb5+ 58.Ka8 Qc6+ 59.Kb8 Qb6+ 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 59)

SO far I have covered those bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that began with an equal number of seven, six or five pawns aside, but did not end in draws (there were none starting with eight pawns aside).

The player with the knight won the seven-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 9-8, the six-pawn endings by the wide margin of 21-7 and the five-pawn endings by the narrow margin of 7-6.

Taking all three sets of endings, the knight leads the bishop by 37-21.

I now move to bishop-v-knight endings from my praxis that had four pawns aside but did not end in draws.

White has just captured on g5 in L Aris (147) - Spanton (147), Highbury (London) Rapid 1990. Who stands better, and by how much?

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This ending is a trivial win for Black, but is a good illustration of how much more powerful a bishop can be than a knight when there are rival pawn-majorities. It also shows how even the most overwhelming position can be thrown away with one careless move.

39...a5 40.h4 a4 41.h5 a3 42.h6 Bg8 43.Nf5 a2 44.Ne3

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44...Kc3

Avoiding 44...a2=Q?? 45.Nc2+, when it is White who has a trivial win.

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Knight v Bishop (part 58)

White has just captured on e2 in Manfred Sonntagbauer (1431) - Spanton (1854), Mariánské Lázně Seniors 2020. Who stands better, and by how much? 

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Black has two isolated pawn, and there are rival pawn-majorities, a fact that usually favours a bishop. But the black queenside pawns are not targets for the bishop, and White's queenside dark squares are weak. The analysis engine Stockfish12 rates the position as equal, but Komodo12.1.1 gives a slight edge to Black.

30...Ne4 31.Bd3 Nd6

31...Nc3?! is risky, eg 32.a3 a5 (more-or-less required to stop the white queenside pawns rolling) 33.Kf2, when the engines reckon Black must play 33...a4 34.bxa4 Nxa4, after which White has a passed pawn and the more-centralised king.

32.g4!?

Not 32,Bxh7?? g6, but the immediate 32.Kf2 is natural.

32...h6 33.Kf2 Ke7 34.Kf3!?

Probably a tad better is is 34.Ke3, which leaves the king better placed to react to activity on the queenside.

34...Kf6!?

And here 34...Ke6 is probably better, for the same reason as in the previous note.

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35.h4?

It cannot be right to let the black king advance to the fourth rank. I was expecting 35.Kf4, when I intended 35...g5+!? 36.Ke3 Ke5, when the black king has reached the fourth rank but the black pawn-majority is compromised.

The engines give 35.b4!? cxb4 36.c5 Ne8 37.Ke4 when White has full compensation for the pawn, but Black is holding on with 37...Nc7.

35...Ke5 36.Ke3

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36...Nc8?

Planning to redeploy via e7 and c6 to d4 or b4, but it is too slow. The engines reckon Black is winning after 36...f5.

37.a3 a5

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38.a4?

Completely the wrong idea. The engines reckon Black is only slightly better after 38.h5.

The game finished:

38...Ne7 39.Bc2 f5 40.Kf3 fxg4+ 41.Kxg4 Nc6 42.Kh5 Ne7 43.Kg4 g6 44.h5 g5 45.Bb1 Nc6 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 57)

Black has just captured on e8 in Spanton (167) - Yasser Tello (161), London League Division 3 2018. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White has two isolated queenside pawns, while Black has doubled f pawns. The knight is unchallengeable on the d4 square. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon White is winning, but if it were Black to move, they reckon White would only have a slight edge.

27.Kb3 f5

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28.f4?!

I thought it was useful to blockade the black pawns, where possible, on light squares, but the engines reckon centralising the king by 28.Kc4 is much more important.

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28...Kf6?!

Neither engine likes the text, but they split on what Black should play. Stockfish12 at first reckons 28...Kh6!? leaves White only slightly better, while 28...f6!? gives White a winning advantage. Komodo12.1.1 reckons 28...f6!? is only slightly better for White, while 28...Kh6!? gives White the upper hand. However, given enough time, Stockfish12 comes to vary between reckoning 28...f6!? leaves White winning or with just a slight edge, finally, it seems, settling on the latter, whereas Komodo12.1.1 comes to view 28...Kh6!? as only slightly better for White.

One point about ...f6 is that it allows ...Bf7, while ...Kh6 allows kingside counterplay.

29.Kc4 b6?!

This probably makes it harder for Black to defend his queenside.

While I was thinking about my next move, YT offered a draw.

30.Kd5 Ke7 31.Nc6+ Kf6 32.Ne5 Ke7 33.Nc4 f6 34.Nd6

Even stronger is 34.Nxb6 Bf7+ 35.Kc5 Bxa2 36.Nd5+ Kf7 37.Nb4, winning the a6 pawn.

34...Bd7 35.a3 Kd8

While I was thinking about my next move, YT offered a draw.

36.g3 Ke7 37.h3 Kd8 38.Nc4 Kc7 39.Ne3 Bc8 40.Kd4 b5

Black gets a lost pawn-ending after 40...Be6 41.Nd5+ Bxd5 42.Kxd5.

41.Nd5+ Kd6 42.Nxf6 bb7 43.Nh7 Bd5 44.Ng5 a5 45.h4 a4 46.Nh3 Bb3 47.Nf2 Bc2 48.Nh3 Bb3 49.Ng5?

This allows a drawing resource, so best is 49.Nf2.

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49...Bg8?

Black draws after 49...Bd5, the point being 50.Nh3 allows a draw by threefold repetition of position (after 50...Bb3). If instead White plays 50.Nh7, then 50...Bc4 51.Nf6 Bf7 leaves White with no way of improving his position, eg 52.g4 Ke6 53.Nd5!? fxg4 54.Ne3 Be8! 55.Nxg4 Kf5 etc. Finally, 50.Ke3 is met by 50...Kc5.

50.Nf3 Bf7 51.Ne5 Be8 52.Nd3

The game was adjourned here.

YT sealed ...

52...Bd7

... but resigned without resuming. A simple continuation would be 53.Ne5 Be8 54.c4 bxc4 55.Kxc4 Ke6 (what else?) 56.Kc5 Ke7 57.Kd5 Kf6 58.Kd6 Bb5 59.Nd7+ Kf7 60.Nb6 Kf6 61.Kc5 bb8 62.Kb4 etc.

Knight v Bishop (part 56)

Black has just captured on b6 in Spanton (1923) - Jiri Navratil (2056), Olomouc Open (Czechia) 2016. Who stands better, and by how much?

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White has the more-mobile pawn-majority, and a bishop to go with it. White also has more space on the kingside, but the kingside white pawns on dark squares are vulnerable. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon the position is dead-equal.

32.Bf3 Kd6 33.Kd2 Nd5 34.Bxd5

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34...Kxd5

The engines at first prefer 34...exd5!?, but quickly come to regard both moves as maintaining equality.

35.Kd3 e5

Also equal is 35...b5, eg 36.b3 e5 37.fxe5 Kxe5 38.c4 bxc4+ 39.bxc4 f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 41.h5 f4 42.c5 Kd5 43.c6 Kxc6 44.Ke4 etc.

36.c4+ Kd6 37.fxe5+ Kxe5 38.b4

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38...f6?

I expected 38...f5, which draws in a similar way to the previous note. The engines reckon any king retreat also draws.

39.Ke3 Ke6

It is too late for ...f5, eg 39...f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 41.h5 f4+ 42.Kf3 Kd4 43.Kxf4 Kxc4 44.Kg5 Kxb4 45.Kg6 Ka3 46.Kxg7 b5 47.h6 b4 48.h7 b3 49.h8=Q b2 50.Qh7 Ka2 51.Qc2 Ka1 52.Qa4+ Kb1 53.Kf6 etc.

40.Kf4 Kd6 41.h5 f5

Or 41...gxh5 42.gxh5 Ke6 43.c5 bxc5 44.bxc5 Kd5 45.Kf5 Kxc5 46.Kg6 etc.

42.hxg6 fxg4 43.Kxg4 Ke5 44.c5 bxc5 45.bxc5 1-0

Knight v Bishop (part 55)

White has just captured on c3 in Winfried Natterer (1811) - Spanton (1924), Bad Wörishofen (Bavaria) 2015. Who stands better, and by how much? 

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Black has a good knight against a bishop restricted by many of its own pawns but that has a target in the a5 pawn. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon the position is dead-equal.

48...Ke7

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49.Kd3

49.Bb6!? Nxh4 50.Bxa5 keeps the position equal, according to Komodo12.1.1, but gives Black a slight edge, according to Stockfish12.

49...Kd7 50.c4 Kc6

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51.c5??

At the time I thought this a stunningly bad move with no plausible explanation, but I guess WN's idea was to prevent ...b6.

The game finished:

51...Kd5 52.Kc3 Ng7 53.Kb3 Nf5 54.Kc3 Ne7 55.Kd3 Nc6 56.Be3 Nb4+ 57.Ke2 Na6 58.Bd2 Nxc5 59.Bxa5 Nxa4 60.Bb4 Ke4 61.Bd2 Nb6 62.Kf2 Nd5 63.Kg3 b5 64.Bc1 b4 65.Bd2 b3 66.Bc1 Nxf4 0-1

Knight v Bishop (part 54)

Black has just captured on d4 in Spanton (2033) - Angel Sarto Ramos (1981), Benidorm U2301 2013. Who stands better, and by how much?

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Black is lost - he cannot defend both of his big weaknesses at a5 and e4.

35.Nc4 Bc3 36.Nd6 Kg7 37.Nxe4 Bb4

White is 'only' one pawn up, but all the remaining black pawns are isolated.

The game finished:

38.Kf3 f5 39.Ng3 Kf6 40.Ke2 Ke5 41.Kd3 f4 42.Ne2 h5 (42...f3!?) 43.f3 f5 44.Nd4 Be1 45.Kc4 h4 46.h3 Bd2 47.a3 Be1 48.Nc2 Bd2 49.b4 a4!? 50.b5 Be3 51.Nb4 Kd6 52.Nd3 Bd2 53.Nc5 Bc1 54.Nxa4 Bxa3 55.Nc3 Ke5 56.Nd5 Bd6 57.b6 Ke6 58.Nc7+ Kd7 59.Kd5 Ba3 60.Ne6 Ke7 61.Ng7 Bc1 62.b7 Kf6 63.Ne8+ 1-0

British Cancelled Yet Again ... But Hope On The Horizon

RONNIE Burton has alerted me to this new post at the ECF site:

After some consideration the BCC Organisers and the ECF have decided that the 2021 British Chess Championships will not go ahead as a single event in Torquay in July/August due to the risks involved with holding a large event at this time. We have agreed with Torquay Council that the venue booking will be carried forward a further year to summer 2022, for next year’s British Chess Championships.

We can confirm that we will be organising a second British Online Chess Championships for the end of July/beginning of August 2021, with the same set of qualifiers, championships and rating-limited events as there were in the first, and very successful, BOCC held in December 2020/January 2021.

In addition, we are planning to organise a 2021 over-the-board British Championships in a slightly different format to take place in the first two weeks of October 2021, and based on –

• Championship places including qualifications for the cancelled 2020 British Chess Championships, together with new qualification places from the 2021 BOCC in August (as above)
• A number of smaller, geographically separated venues to host the different championships, which should reduce the numbers at any single location and avoid the need for players to travel long distances.

This means that we can resume with an over-the-board British Chess Championships in a different format after last year’s interruption. We will keep you posted with a detailed schedule, dates and entry forms for the online and over-the-board British events over the coming months, and look forward to the various British events later in the year.

Knight v Bishop (part 53)

White has just captured on b5 in Spanton (1994) - Nils Vonhoff (1777), Guernsey 2012. Who stands better, and by how much?

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Black has a protected passed pawn, but his bishop is bad because it is hemmed in by its own pawns and has no targets. The analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon the position is dead-equal.

42...Ke6 43.Ke3 Kd5

NV offered a draw.

44.Nd4 Be8

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45.h5!?

Double-edged, but the only serious try for an advantage.

45...gxh5 46.Nxf5 Bd7!?

This is fine, but if Black is happy with a draw then 46...Bf7 is simpler.

47.Ng3 h4 48.Nxe4 Bf5

Other moves also draw, eg 48...h3 49.Nf6+ Kd6 50.Kf3 (50.Nxb6?? h2) Bf5 51.Nh5 Be6, when my original notes show Houdini1.5a reckoned White is better but the engine was unable to find a way to make progress. My modern engines rate the position as dead-equal.

49.Nd2

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49...Ke6??

Inexplicable.

50.Nxc4 a4 51.Kf3 1-0