The whole game can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2021/06/crete-round-six.html but here I want to look in some depth at the opening.
Spanton - Zimmermann
Caro-Kann Fantasy
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3
Joe Gallagher in Starting Out: The Caro Kann (Everyman 2002) says the theoretical verdict on the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann is "a positionally suspect line but one full of dangerous traps for Black to avoid."
3...Nf6
The most-popular reply is 3...e6, for which see my game in round eight. The text first appears in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database in a 1930 Alexander Alekhine simul in which the world champion had white.
4.e5 Nfd7
Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 waver between this and 4...Ng8!?
5.f4
The Alekhine game saw 5.Bd3!? e6 6.Ne2 c5 7.c3 with a French-style position.
5...e6 6.Nf3 c5
Now 7.Nc3 would take the game into a main line of the Steinitz Variation of the French Defence.
7.c3
One line in the French Steinitz involves White moving the queen's knight from c3 to e2 so it is possible to put the c pawn on c3. Here White gets the pawn move in more economically, so perhaps it is not surprising Stockfish13 gives White the upper hand (Komodo12.1.1 agrees White is better, but only slightly).
7...Nc6 8.Be2 Qb6
This position is normally reached in Mega21 with Black to move
9.0-0 f5?!
The engines are not overly critical of this move, but it means White's central space advantage is unlikely to disappear. A more-normal plan in this type of position would run something like 9...Be7 10.Kh1 0-0 with ...f6 to come.
10.Kh1
The king is clearly safer on h1, and the white centre is safer too as without Kh1 there were lines in which Black could capture on d4 followed by sacrificing a knight on e5. The king move also frees g1 for a rook in the event of White attacking on the kingside with g4.
10...cxd4!?
Black might have tried to hold back on this capture until the white queen's knight had moved as now the knight can develop to its 'natural' c3 square.
11.cxd4 Be7 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Be3!?
The engines reckon a stronger plan is 13.Rg1 with g4 to come.
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| Should Black accept White's pawn offer and, if not, what should he play? |
*****
*****
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13...Nd8?!
After 13...Qxb2, one line given by the engines runs 14.Nb5 Nb6 15.a3!? a6 16.Rb1 Qa2 17.Nc7 Ra7 18.Rxb6 Qxa3 19.Bc1!? Qa2 20.Nxa6 Qa5 21.Qb3 Bd8 22.Rxc6 bxc6 23.Nc5, reaching a position in which White has two knights, including one well-posted at c5, for rook and pawn. This is not all forced but the engines reckon this line and others like it are very good for White.
After 13...Qxb2, one line given by the engines runs 14.Nb5 Nb6 15.a3!? a6 16.Rb1 Qa2 17.Nc7 Ra7 18.Rxb6 Qxa3 19.Bc1!? Qa2 20.Nxa6 Qa5 21.Qb3 Bd8 22.Rxc6 bxc6 23.Nc5, reaching a position in which White has two knights, including one well-posted at c5, for rook and pawn. This is not all forced but the engines reckon this line and others like it are very good for White.
On the other hand the text, which seems part of a plan to generate kingside play, is rather slow.
Komodo12.1.1 suggests 13...Qd8!?, which is also a retrograde move but at least frees the b6 square for the king's knight. However after 14.Rg1 Nb6, Stockfish13's 15.g4 looks strong, although Komodo12.1.1 at first gives White only a slight edge after 15...Nc4, but later comes to agree with Stockfish13 that Black is in trouble.
14.Qd2
White has connected his rooks, while Black is at least four moves away from connecting his. Add in White's central space advantage, and it is to an extent academic whether White is positionally winning (Stockfish13) or 'merely' has the upper hand (Komodo12.1.1).
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