Opening Lessons from Basel IV

IN round four I had white against Maximilian Ponamarev from Germany, who is 15 or 16 and has a Fide rating of 2017.

Sicilian ...e6

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 g6?!

This has been played by many grandmasters, including Svidler, Kamsky and Liberzon, but is probably a mistake, as I hope to show.

The main move in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database is 4...Nf6, when the main line continues 5.Qe2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Rd1, when Komodo12.1.1 reckons White has a slight edge, but Stockfish13 is less sure.

5.d4

It is easy for Black to carelessly forget White still has this option even though it was not exercised at move three.

5...cxd4

This is the main move, but Svidler has also tried 5...d5, when 6.exd5 exd5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 was nice for White in Mihail Kobalia (2614) Peter Svidler (2723), Chess.com Blitz 2020 (1-0, 43 moves).

6.Nxd4 Bg7

This natural-looking move is the engines' choice but, after White's reply, Black is in big trouble.

Eliezer Malzman (-) - Vladimir Liberzon (2555), Israeli Championship (Tel Aviv) 1978, saw 6...a6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.c3!? (8.Be3 seems better) Nge7, when Malzman played the surely too-slow 9.Ne2 and drew, but the engines reckon White has the upper hand after 9.Be3 or 9.Nxc6.

Svidler chose 6...Qb6!? in a 2012 blitz win against Magnus Carlsen, but the engines' reckon the latter's reply 7.Nxc6?! throws away much of White's advantage. Instead they like the much more popular 7.Nb3, when Stockfish13 rates the white position as already positionally won, although Komodo12.1.1 'only' gives White the upper hand.

7.Nb5

Taking advantage of the holes in Black's set-up.

7...Nf6?

Most popular in Mega21 is 7...Qa5+?! 8.N1c3 Bxc3+?! 9.Nxc3, but the engines strongly dislike the whole concept (an old rule-of-thumb says that when you have a bad bishop, you should not swop off your good one).

The engines reckon Black's best chance lies in sacrificing a pawn with 7...d5!? 8.exd5 exd5 9.Qxd5 Qe7+ 10.Qe4 Be6, but agree White is better (much better, according to Stockfish13).

8.Nd6+

This is good enough to cement White's advantage, but even better seems to the engines' 8.e5!?, the point being 8...Nxe5 9.Qd6 wins material for White. Best play, according to the engines, continues 9...Qa5+ 10.N1c3 Nc4 11.Qc7! 0-0 12.Qxc4.

8...Kf8 9.Nc3 a6

The engines suggest 9...Ne8, albeit with a large advantage for White.

10.0-0 Ne8 11.Bf4 Nxd6 12.Bxd6+ Kg8 13.Kh1!?

This may be too slow. I rejected 13.f4 because of 13...Qb6+ 14.Kh1 Qxb2, which is Komodo12.1.1's choice, but both engines give White a large advantage after 15.Rf3.

13...Bf8

Eduard Fomichenko (2357) - Elena S Brineva (2139), Poltavskaya (Russia) 2005, saw 13...h6 14.f4 with a strong attack for White (1-0, 29 moves).

Komodo12.1.1 at first reckons White only has a slight edge after 13...b5, but comes to give White the upper hand (Stockfish13 reckons White is winning).

14.e5 Bxd6 15.exd6?!

The engines prefer 15.Qxd6, meeting 15...Qf8 with 16.Na4, and if Black exchanges queens (I wanted to keep queens on, which is why I played the text), both engines give White a positionally won game.

15...b6 16.Bxc6!?

This may be best but the position is no longer so clear.

16...bxc6 17.Qf3?!

The engines do not like this, but are unsure as to how White should proceed - suggestions include 17.f3!?, 17.Kg1!?, 17.Qd2 and 17.Qd3.

Position after White connects rooks

White retains an edge, according to the engines, but the important part of the analysis is earlier in the play when I think I have demonstrated why ...g6 at move four is dubious (but Svidler apparently disagrees, so who are you going to believe?).