Spanton (1808) - Aleksander Kędzierski (1540)
Wrocław B
Caro-Kann Fantasy
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bd2!?
Until now the game had followed the main line of the Fantasy Variation of the Caro-Kann in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database, but here there are more-popular moves in the shape of 5.Bf4, 5.Ne2 and 5.a3.
5...dxe4
And here the most-popular move is 5...Ne7, although the text has also been played by grandmasters.
6.Nxe4 Bxd2+!?
The analysis engine Stockfish14 much prefers 6...Be7. The text achieves a certain amount of simplification, and Komodo12.1.1 is OK with it, but White gets a handy lead in development.
7.Qxd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.Nh3
The pawn-sac 9.Bd3?! Qxd4 is playable but is not a winner as 10.Nxf6+ is simply met by 10...Qxf6.
9...Nbd7 10.Bd3 e5?!
Opening the position when behind in development is rarely wise.
11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.Ng5 g6 13.h4 h6 14.Ne4 Qg7
The engines prefer getting queens off the board with 14...Qf4.
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| How should White proceed? |
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15.dxe5?!
It was almost certainly better to offer up the d pawn and get on with attacking on the kingside with 15.g4 (Stockfish14), or preparing such an attack with 15.Kb1 (Komodo12.1.1).
15...Nxe5 16.Qf4 Nxd3+ 17.Rxd3 Bf5 18.Rhd1 Rae8 19.Rd4 Bxe4 20.Rxe4 Rxe4 21.Qxe4
Komodo12.1.1 prefers, at least for a while, the strange-looking 21.fxe4. Neither move promises White as much as I thought (hoped?) during the game.
21...Qf6 22.Re1?!
I felt (correctly) that 22.Qd4 Qxd4 23.Rxd4 promised White very little, but the text gives up an open file.
22...Rd8 23.g3?
The position is more critical, at least for White, than I realised. The engines like 23.Qb4, 23.c3 or 23.a3, but reckon Black has a slight edge.
23...Kf8?
Missing 23...Qd6, whose strength I only spotted after making my 23rd move. I was more-or-less reconciled to meeting it with 24.Qf4!? Qxf4 25.gxf4, but Black is clearly better.
24.Qe3 Kg7 25.Qxa7?!
Almost certainly a fundamental misunderstanding of the position. I felt clearing a line for my a pawn would help me more than Black's simultaneous clearing of a line for his f pawn, but that is a static evaluation that ignores the dynamics of the position,
25...Qxf3 26.Qxb7?!
Better, according to the engines, is the defensive 26.Qg1, but in my mind I still thought I had an edge.
26...Qxg3 27.Qb4
I had planned 27.Qe7, but got cold feet on seeing 27...Qf4+ 28.Kb1 Qd2?!, but White is probably OK then. However the engines find the almost-certainly superior 28...Qf6 29.Qxf6+ Kxf6, when the black king is much more active than its white counterpart.
27...c5! 28.Qe4
Of course the pawn cannot be taken, but also bad is 28.Qa5? as Black has 28...Ra8!
28...Rd4 29.Qe5+ Qxe5 30.Rxe5 Rxh4 31.Rxc5 g5
Black is ahead in the race to queen.
32.Kd2 Rf4?!
The engines much prefer 32...Re4, but this is a very tricky ending to evaluate.
33.Ke3 Kg6 34.b3?!
The engines do not like this, suggesting instead 34.Rc6+ f6 35.Rc8, but Black seems quite a lot better after the engines' 34...h5.
34...h5 35.a4 h4 36.Rc4 Rf6
Certainly not 36...Rxc4?? 37.bxc4, when the a pawn queens.
Less clear immediately is 36...h3? 37.Rxf4 gxf4+ 38.Kf3 Kf5 39.a5 h2 40.Kg2 Ke4 41.Kxh2 Ke3, but the continuation 42.a6 f3 43.a7 f3 48.a8=Q f1=Q 49.Qa7+ seems strong for White.
37.a5
This is not liked by the engines, but White seems to be lost whatever is played.
37...h3 38.Ra4 h2 39.Ra1 g4 40.a6 g3 41.a7 g2 42.a8=Q g1=Q+ 43.Kd2
White is getting mated.
43...Qd4+ 44.Kc1 Qxa1+
Missing 44...Rf1#, but it hardly matters.
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