Opening Lessons From Wrocław VIII

IN round eight I had Black against Konrad Kokurewicz (1715).

Scotch

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5

White scores 54% against this move in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database, but only 52% against the main alternative 4...Nf6.

5.Nxc6

This move trails a long way behind 5.Be3 in popularity, but is ahead of the old club-favourite 5.Nb3.

5...Qf6

A well-known intermezzo, although both it and the less-popular alternative 5...bxc6 score 46%.

6.Qf3!?

Magnus Carlsen's choice; Garry Kasparov preferred the awkward-looking 6.Qd2. Vishy Anand and Vasyl Ivanchuk have played both moves.

Black has four ways of meeting the text (discounting a 2002 game in Mega21 where 6...Qd4?? was played).

Least popular is 6...Qxc6?!, which John Emms in Starting Out: The Scotch Game (Everyman 2005) says "loses time and White can gain a further tempo with Nc3 followed by Bb5."

Natural-looking is 6...Qxf3, which has been played by Kramnik, but Emms says that although "compromising White's pawn-structure on the kingside ... certainly looks sensible," adds that White "still managed to achieve an advantage" in a high-level game in 2004, ie the year before his book came out.

Black's most-popular reply - just - is 6...bxc6, which Emms does not mention. Black's queenside is compromised and the queens remain in tension, but Black avoids the Spanish Exchange formation arising after:

6...dxc6

I call this the Spanish Exchange formation because it best-known from the sequence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 (the black a pawn being on a6 is a minor difference). Black's 4-3 queenside majority will not produce a passed pawn unless White is careless, so endings, particularly pawn-endings, often favour White. Giving up the bishop-pair is the price White pays in the Spanish Exchange for achieving this set-up. In the version of the Scotch seen in this game, White keeps both bishops but Black hopes for compensation from active piece-play.

7.Nc3

This is the normal move, although 7.Bc4!? scores nine percentage points better in Mega21. 7.Qxf6!? has been played by grandmasters, but after 7...Nxf6 Black's development advantage is starting to look significant.

7...Be6 8.Be3 Qxf3!?

This is Komodo12.1.1's choice, but it scores just 20% in Mega21, albeit from a small sample. Stockfish14 prefers 8...Bb6!?, which has been played by a 2520.

9.gxf3 Bxe3 10.fxe3

White has an extra pawn-island, and it will not be easy to create a kingside passed pawn, but the engines are divided in their assessment of the position. Komodo12.1.1 reckons Black has equalised, while Stockfish14 gives White the upper hand.

10...0-0-0 11.Rg1 g6 12.Na4!?

An interesting novelty, or at least a move not in Mega21. The engines like repositioning the white knight via e2 to f4 or d4.

12...b6 13.b3

White's main idea behind 12.Na4!? becomes clear - he plans Nb2 followed by developing the bishop with Bc4.

13...Ne7!?

If Black does nothing in particular, White will catch up in development and start to try to exploit his kingside majority. The text prepares an attack on the white centre with ...f5.

Black has connected rooks and the position is ripe for an interesting middlegame.

The position is not easy to assess. Komodo12.1.1 reckons the game is dead-equal, but Stockfish14 gives an edge of about half a pawn to White. The full game can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2021/08/wrocaw-round-eight.html