Opening Lessons From Crete IV

Whoops! This should have been posted earlier.

IN round five I faced Martin Schaefer, a German rated 1929.

The full game can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2021/06/crete-round-five.html but here I will look in some depth at the opening.

Spanton - Schaefer

Sicilian Bb5(+)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6

ChessBase's 2021 Mega database has three entries for players named Martin Schaefer, but judging by the tournaments they played in they may be the same person. Whatever the case, MS seems to have preferred 2...d6, and scored best with it, albeit from a small sample size.

3.Bb5

None of his games in Mega21 featured this move.

3...g6

This is easily Black's most-popular reply in Mega21, occurring more than half of the time.

4.c3!?

There is a general rule in the Sicilian that when Black develops the dark-square bishop at e7, White's best plan involves setting up a Maróczy Bind, but when the bishop goes to g7 White should play to blunt the bishop with c3 and d4. There are numerous exceptions, but I believe the rule is a useful one to bear in mind. Having stated all that, the moves 4.0-0 and 4.Bxc6 are much more popular.

4...Nf6!?

More frequently seen is 4...Bg7, but immediately challenging the white centre is also popular and has been played by Magnus Carlsen.
5.Qe2

Very slightly more popular is 5.e5, when the main line runs 5...Nd5 6.0-0 Bg7 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 0-0 9.Nc3, which the analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon is roughly equal.

5...e5!?

A sharp pawn-sacrifice that has been played by Ukrainian grandmaster Pavel Eljanov and, at least for a while, is the top choice of Stockfish13, but there are just two examples in Mega21. The normal move is 5...Bg7, when the main line runs 6.0-0 0-0, with White usually choosing between 7.d4 and 7.Rd1.

How should White proceed?

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6.Bxc6N

Ilya Smirin (2594) - Eljanov (2655), Netanya Masters (Israel) 2019, continued 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Nxe5 0-0 9.Nf3!? Re8 10.d3 d5, when Black has more than enough compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.

Best, according to the engines, is 6.d3!? Bg7 7.Bg5 with equal chances.

The text is an attempt to refute Black's idea, but it seems Black has sufficient compensation.

6...bxc6

The engines reckon White is slightly better after 6...dxc6 7.Nxe5. Note that both pawn-captures open a diagonal for the black light-square bishop.

7.Nxe5 Bg7!

I was expecting Black to try to regain the pawn immediately with 7...Qe7 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 c5, when I was probably going to play 10.Be3, allowing 10...Nxe4. The engines reckon White is better after 11.0-0 or 11.Bf4.

8.d3

Keeping the centre relatively closed as a defence against the black bishop-pair, but the engines slightly prefer 8.d4 or 8.0-0.

8....0-0 9.Be3?!

My originally intended 9.Bg5 is much better, according to the engines, although they reckon Black has full compensation for a pawn.

9...Ba6

Also good for Black, according to the engines, is 9...Re8 10.Nf3 d5.

10.Nd2?!

Developing a piece while protecting e4 seems natural, but the engines prefer offering the pawn back immediately with 10.0-0 or 10.Nf3, or holding on to it a bit longer with 10.Bg5. In each case they give a small edge to Black.

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10...Re8

This is strong, but even better, according to the engines, is 10...Qb8!?, when they reckon best-play runs 11.f4 d6 (11...Qxb2?! 12.Rb1 Qxc3 13.0-0 gives White an initiative) 12.Nec4 d5 13.e5 dxc4 14.exf6 cxd3 15.Qf3 Bxf6, after which Black's bishop-pair and extra (passed) pawn on d3 outweigh his pawn-weaknesses.

11.Nef3 Nxe4

Keeping the initiative with 11...d5!? seems better.

12.Nxe4 Rxe4 13.0-0

With White having connected his rooks, the middlegame can be considered to have arrived

Black's bishops are powerful but White has the better pawn-structure. To me the position looks dynamically balanced. Komodo12.1.1 agrees, but Stockfish13 gives White a slight edge.