Opening Lessons From Crete VII

THE first seven rounds of  group C of the Amateur Chess Organization's world senior championship were run as an all-play-all among the seven contestants, one player getting a bye each round.

The last two rounds were played as a swiss, and going into round eight I was second on tiebreak, 1.5pts behind Tomasz Sielicki, the Pole I lost to in round four.

Our complete round-eight game can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2021/06/justice-in-chess.html but here I want to look in some depth at the opening.

Spanton - Sielicki

Caro-Kann Fantasy

1.e4 c6!?

TS has 490 games in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database, but there is no evidence of him having played the Caro-Kann - presumably a case of someone using the covid pause to learn a new opening.

2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6

One of the points of the Caro-Kann is that it often lets Black develop the light-square bishop to f5 or g4. But this is somewhat unlikely in the Fantasy Variation, at least early on. The text is Black's commonest third move in Mega21, one point being it introduces the threat of exchanging on e4, followed by ...Qh4+.

Joe Gallagher in Starting Out: The Caro-Kann (Everyman 2002) calls 3...e6 Black's "most reliable and solid move."

4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Be3!?

The main move is 5.Bf4, although Gallagher calls it "slightly awkward." The commonest continuation in Mega21 runs 5...Ne7 (5...Nf6 is very nearly as popular) 6.Qd3 b6 7.Ne2 Ba6 8.Qe3 with what the analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon is an equal position.

The text  was played by Gallagher at least twice in 1987, although he labels it dubious.

5...dxe4 6.Qd2

Gallagher preferred 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3, when 7...Qa5 8.fxe4?! Qxc3+ 9.Bd2 Qxd4 was better for Black in Gallagher (2405) - Stuart Conquest (2395), British Championship (Swansea) 1987 (0-1, 43 moves). Instead the engines give 8.Bd2, as originally played by Saviely Tartakower, albeit preferring Black.

Another interesting move is 6.fxe4!?, when 6...Qh4+ 7.g3 Qxe4 gives White good compensation after 8.Qd2 or 8.Qe2, according to Komodo12.1.1, although Stockfish13 prefers Black.

6...Nf6 7.a3 Qa5N 8.Bc4?!

Better seems to be 8.Nge2 exf3 9.gxf3, although Stockfish13 (but not Komodo12.1.1) likes Black after 9...Nd5.

8...exf3!?

Even better for Black, according to the engines, is 8...Bxc3 9.bxc3 c5!?, although the engines reckon Black's advantage is not so great after 9.Qxc3!? Qxc3 10.bxc3. Also better than the text, according to the engines, is 8...b5 followed by 9...Bxc3.

9.gxf3

If 9.Nxf3?! then 9...Ne4.

9...Bxc3 10.bxc3

Again the engines marginally prefer capturing with the queen.

10...Nd5 11.Ne2 Nxe3 12.Qxe3 Nd7 13.Rg1 g6 14.Qh6!?

The engines prefer 14.Bd3 as they reckon the text is well-answered by 14...b5 with ...Bb7 to come.

14...Nb6

This also looks good for Black.

15.Bb3 Bd7 16.Rg5 Nd5 17.Kf2

Black has emerged from the opening with an extra pawn

Black also has the better pawn-structure and safer king, for which White's better bishop, half-open files and slight initiative do not fully compensate.