Calvià (part five)

Santiago Juan Mas (1975) - Spanton (1793)

Calvià U2350 Round 5

Morra Gambit Declined

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 g6!?

Not a popular move, but it scores a very healthy 58% in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database.

4.Nf3!?

Much more popular is 4.cxd4, but the game soon transposes to similar lines.

4...Bg7 5.cxd4 d5

It is generally considered important for Black to challenge the white centre, by 5...d5 or 5...Nf6, before White has time to consolidate. However grandmasters have also played 5...d6.

6.exd5

Kasparov is among those who played the more popular 6.e5, which scores 50% in Mega21 compared with 49% for the text.

6...Nf6 7.Bb5+ Nbd7 8.Nc3 0-0 9.0-0 Nb6 10.Re1 Nbxd5 11.Bg5 Be6 12.Qd2 Rc8 13.Rac1 Nxc3!?

A committal move, but it was IM Andrew Martin's choice in a 1990 game in Guernsey and GM Maxim Matlakov's in a 2016 rapid game in Talinn, Estonia.

14.bxc3 Bd5

Position after 14...Bd5

15.Bd3!?

This apparent-novelty is quite liked by my main analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1.

Gerhard Reink - Martin (2415), Guernsey 1990, continued 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Ne5 Qa5, when Black is already better, according to the engines (0-1, 32 moves).

Margeir Petursson (2509) - Matlakov (2682), Keres Memorial Rapid (Talinn) 2016, saw 15.Qe3 Qa5 16.Bf1 Bxf3!? 17.Bxf6!? Bxf6 18.Qxf3 Rc7, when again Black is better, according to the engines (0-1, 26 moves).

15...Bxf3 16.gxf3 Qd7 17.Kg2 e6 18.h4 h5 19.Bh6?!

Manoeuvring to give up the bishop-pair seems strange as White will not be in much of a position to exploit Black's weak kingside dark squares.

19...Nd5 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.Be4 Rfd8 22.c4 Nb6 23.c5!? Nd5 24.Qb2

White's queenside pressure does not quite make up for his shattered pawn-structure, according to the engines.

24...Qe7 25.Bxd5 Rxd5 26.Re4 Rcd8

Probably not 26...f5?!, when the engines reckon 27.Re5 equalises.

27.Rce1 Kh7 28.Qa3?

An oversight the drops a pawn. The engines give 28.a4, with slightly the better game for Black.

28...b6 29.Qb3 bxc5 30.dxc5 Rxc5 31.Qb4 Rc7 32.R1e3 Qxb4 33.Rxb4 Rd2 34.Ra4 Kg7 35.a3?!

Komodo12.1.1 likes this for a while, but it is probably a mistake. Better seems to be 35.Kg3 or 35.f4.

35...Kf6?!

The engines much prefer 35...Rcc2 36.Rxa7 Rxf2+ 37.Kg3 Kf6.

36.Ree4

The engines prefer 36.Re1!?, the idea being to meet 36...Rcc2 with 37.Rf1, when it is not clear how Black makes progress except by painstaking baby steps on the kingside.

36...Rd5

Again ...Rcc2 may be better.

37.Rf4+ Ke7 38.Rfb4 Rdc5 39.f4?

This gains space but weakens the f pawn and the g4 square. The engines suggest 39.Ra6 or 39.Rb8, while still giving Black a winning advantage.

39...a5 40.Rd4 Rd7 41.Re4 Rd3 42.Re2 Kf6 43.Rb2 Rdc3 44.Rd4 Kf5 45.Rb7 f6 46.a4 R3c4 47.Rxc4 Rxc4 48.Rb5+

Or 48.Kg3 Rxf4 49.Rb5+ Ke4.

The game finished:

48...Kg4 49.Rxa5 Rxf4 50.Ra8 Kxh4 51.a5 Kg5 52.a6 Ra4 53.a7 Ra3 54.Kh2 e5 55.Kg2 Kf5 56.Kh2 e4 57.Kg2 Ra4 58.Kh2 g5 59.Kg2 Kg4 60.Re8

Barely better, according to the engines, is 60.Rf8.

60...Rxa7 61.Rxe4+ Kf5 62.Rb4 Re7 63.Ra4 Re4 64.Ra8 Kf4 65.Rh8 h4 66.Ra8 f5 67.Rh8 Re2 68.Rh7 Rb2 69.Rc7 Rb4 70.Rh7 Rb3 71.Ra7 h3+ 72.Kg1 Kf3 0-1 (Time)