Opening Lessons From Crete VIII

IN the ninth and final round I played Michael Schaefer, a German with a Fide rating of 1929, against whom I won in round five.

Our round-nine game can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2021/06/crete-round-nine.html but here I want to concentrate on the opening.

Schaefer - Spanton

Catalan

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3

Edmar Mednis in Strategic Chess - Mastering The Closed Game (Summit 1993) writes that White in the Catalan uses "a completely different approach than in the typical Queen's Gambit Declined variations."

He explains that in those other variations White "first mobilises his queenside pieces so as to put immediate pressure on d5, as well as on Black's queenside," but in the Catalan White "first completes the relatively modest development of his kingside forces."

Mednis adds: "The key minor piece is White's king's bishop. From its fianchettoed location it bears down on the important e4-b7 squares.

"Depending on the variation that Black chooses, the king's bishop will support the e4 advance, pressure d5 or aim at Black's queenside.

"Unless Black fully understands the positions that result, he will quickly find himself in a most uncomfortable situation."

Black has two major Catalan-specific responses: the Open Catalan, which involves an early capture on c4, and the Closed Catalan, which usually involves playing ...c6 and fianchettoing the queen's bishop.

An important alternative is to immediately attack White's centre with 4...c5, which often transposes to lines that more commonly arise from the Tarrasch Variation of the QGD: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5.

4...Bb4+

This is usually part of a Closed Catalan approach, as is the more-popular 4...Be7.

5.Bd2

This is overwhelmingly White's commonest reply, but 5.Nbd2 and 5.Nc3 have been played by grandmasters and score a better percentage than the text in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database.

5...Be7

Black has lost a tempo compared with the absolute mainline 4...Be7, but the argument is that the white dark-square bishop is much better-placed on b2 than d2.

6.Bf4!?

The usual continuation is 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 b6 9.Bf4 Bb7 with a position that the analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 reckon is roughly equal..

The text is very rare, but we soon transpose to a much more-popular line.

6...0-0 7.Bg2 c6 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qc2 b6

We have reached the same position as given in the previous note except for Black having played ...Nbd7 instead of ...Bb7.

10.cxd5 cxd5

The bizarre-looking 10...Nxd5 has been played by a 2573, and, at least for a while, is marginally preferred over the text by Komodo12.1.1. After 11.Qxc6 Nxf4!? 12.Qxa8 Nxe2+ 13.Kh1 Qc7 14.Qe4 Ba6 it is hard to believe Black has enough for the exchange. However 11...Ba6 throws another wrinkle into the mix, eg 12.Re1 Nxf4 13.gxf4 Rc8 14.Qa4 Bb7.

11.Bc7!?

Grandmasters have played this, but 11.Rc1 and 11.Nc3 are slightly more popular in Mega21.

11...Qe8 12.Rc1 Ba6N

Artur Yusupov, Emmanuel Bricard and Marcin Dziuba have played 12...Bb7.

13.Nc3

White has connected his rooks and it is a good time to assess the results of the opening

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

The pawn-structure, if not exactly symmetrical, is fairly even, with neither side having gained space.

White is ahead in development, but the dark-square bishop is awkwardly placed and the queen could be harassed on the open file.

Black has to unravel, and the bishop at a6 is loose, but all-in-all the position looks to me roughly balanced, which is also the verdict of the engines.