ANOTHER attempt by me to play against the French Defence in the style of Paul Morphy.
Spanton (1793) - Jordi Salvador Ramis Sebastia (1519)
Calvià U2350 Round 2
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.0-0 Be7 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 Bh5 9.g4!?
Not a popular choice. The analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon White gets a tiny pull with 9.Bg5, which has been played by Mark Hebden.
9...Bg6 10.Ne5 Nbd7 11.Bg5!?
The engines strongly dislike this, reckoning the game is roughly equal after 11.Nxg6 (Stockfish13) or 11.Nc3 (Komodo12.1.1).
11...Nxe5 12.dxe5 Ne4 13.Bxe7?!
Black is only slightly better, according to the engines, after 13.Bxe4 Bxe4 14.Be3.
13...Qxe7 14.Bxe4
This is best, according to the engines, but after ...
14...dxe4
... White has big problems.
15.Nc3
Even worse seems to be 15.f4?! exf3 16.Qxf3 Bxc2 (or 16...f5!?, as suggested by the engines). Also very good for Black is 15.Qd4 Rad8!? 16.Qc3 Qg5.
15...Qxe5
Even better, according to the engines, is 15...Rad8 16.Qe2 Qxe5, and if 17.Nxe4 then simply 17...Qxb2.
16.f4??
I cannot recall, but I guess I thought half-opening the f file might give me an initiative. Instead I lose a second pawn and weaken my king. The engines like 16.Qd5!, which gives White a surprising amount of counterplay, eg 16...Qxd5 17.Nxd5 Rae8 18.Nxc7 Rc8 19.Nd5 Rxc2 20.Ne7+, or 16...Qf4 17.Qxb7.
16...Qxf4 17.Qe2 Rfe8 18.Nd5 Qg3+ 19.Qg2 Qxg2+?!
Exchanging queens brings an ending closer, but the white king goes from cowering in the corner to being more active than its black counterpart.
20.Kxg2 Rac8?!
Passive rook-play is rarely correct. Here 20...Rad8 is possible as 21.Nxc7? Rd2+ is good for Black.
21.Rad1 h5 22.Nf4 hxg4 23.hxg4 Bh7 24.Nd5 c6 25.Ne3 Re5?
Black should contest the open file.
26.Rd7 Rb8
Or 26...Rb5 27.b3, when the black pieces are badly uncoordinated.
27.Kg3
The engines prefer 27.Red1 or 27.Rc7.
27...Kf8
And here the engines prefer 27...g5.
28.Red1 Re7
Again the engines like ...g5.
29.Rd8+ Rxd8 30.Rxd8+ Re8 31.Rd7 Rb8
Black remains two pawns up but all of the white pieces are better than the black ones.
32.Kf4 a5 33.Nf5?!
This lets Black swop off his bad bishop for the good white knight.
33...Bxf5 34.gxf5 Re8 35.Ke3 b5 36.Rc7 Re5 37.Rxc6 Rxf5 38.Kxe4 g6 39.Ra6 b4 40.Ra7?!
Almost certainly better is creating a passed pawn by 40.c4 to give counterplay.
40...Kg7?!
Here 40...Rc5 41.Kd3 Kg7 is very strong.
41.c3 bxc3 42.bxc3 Kf6 43.c4 Re5+?!
The engines reckon Black still has an edge after 43...Ke6.
44.Kd4 g5
Black has nothing better, according to the engines. eg 44...Rf5 45.c5.
45.c5
A simpler draw is to be had by 45.Rxf7+!?
45...g4 46.c6!?
The engines reckon 46.Ra6+ Kf5 47.Ra8 is dead-equal.
46...g3 47.Rxf7+??
This trick no longer draws. Instead 47.c7 Re8! (47...g2 48.Ra6+ Re6 49.Rxe6+ fxe6 is a tablebase draw) 48.Rb7 g2 49.Rb1 Rc8 50.Rg1 Rxc7 51.Rxg2 leaves Black needing to find 51...Rb7! for a tablebase win.
47...Kxf7
It was only now that I saw how Black wins.
48.Kxe5
 |
| Black to play and win |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
48...g2??
Missing a simple win by 48...Ke7 or 48...Ke8.
49.c7 g1=Q 50.c8=Q Qg3+ 51.Kd4 Qf2+ 52.Ke5 Qe3+ 53.Kd5 Qd3+ 54.Ke5 Qe3+ 55.Kd5 ½–½
No comments:
Post a Comment