Hradec Králové Round Three

WAS upfloated against a Frenchman who does not have a Fide rating.

Vincent Haefliger - Spanton (1804)

Sicilian 2.g3

1.e4 c5 2.g3!?

Grandmaster Nigel Davies explains on his Closed Sicilian dvd for ChessBase that he used to play this in order to try to reach a Closed Sicilian set-up without committing to the move Nc3, the point being White often wants to play c3 in the Closed Sicilian to evict a knight from d4.

2...d5

This, he says, is the move that made him give up on the idea. The commonest move, by quite a margin, in ChessBase's 2021 Mega database is 2...Nc6, which is preferred by Komodo12.1.1 (Stockfish14 likes the text).

3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Bg2 Qe4+?!

Grandmasters tend to play 5...Qe6+ or 5...Nc6.

6.Kf1

White can offer a pawn with 6.Qe2!? as 6...Qxc2!? allows White plenty of compensation after, for example, 7.Na3 or 7.0-0. However the text is the main line and is preferred by the engines.

6...Nc6 7.d3 Qe6

The same position is often reached in the 5...Qe6 line, except there White will not have got in the move d3. The engines reckon the tempo difference is enough to turn a roughly equal line into one that is advantageous for White.

8.Bf4 Nf6!?

The engines prefer 8...Qd7.

9.h3 Bh5 10.g4 Bg6

Sacrifices on g4 do not work, eg 10...Nxg4? 11.hxg4 Qxg4 (11...Bxg4 12.Nbd2) 12.Qd2.

11.Nc3 Rd8?

Black needs to defend against the threat of Nb5, and the engines reckon best is 11...Rc8.

12.Nb5 Nd5 13.c4 Qf6

White to play and win

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14.cxd5?

Correct is 14.Bg5 Qxb2, which VH said after the game he had looked at but could not calculate the complications. The engines reckon best-play runs 15.cxd5 (not 15.Rb1? Nc3) Bxd3+ 16.Qxd3! Qxa1+ 17.Ne1 when Black, if anyone, is ahead on material, but White's lead in development and the endangered black king mean White is winning, eg 17...Nd4 18.Nc7+ Kd7 19.Nb5!

14...Qxf4 15.dxc6?

The engines reckon 15.d4 is about level.

15...Bxd3+ 16.Kg1?!

Probably better is 16.Qxd3 Rxd3 17.c7 Kd7, when the engines find 18.Ne5+! Qxe5 19.Bxb7 Qxc7 20.Nxc7 Kxc7, albeit leaving Black a pawn up.

16...Bxb5 17.Qe2??

As often happens in chess, mistakes closely follow mistakes. The engines reckon best is 17.Qc1 Qxc1+ 18.Rxc1 Bxc6 19.Rxc5, when Black is a pawn up and has the bishop-pair on a relatively open board.

17...Bxe2 0-1