Alicante Round Nine

PLAYED a Belgian yesterday evening.

Spanton (1829) - Marc Lacrosse (FM 2035)

II Open Internacional de Ajedrez Dama Negra

Spanish Four Knights

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 d6 7.Bg5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Qe7

This is Black's most-popular move. The main idea is to implement the Metger Unpin, ie ...Nd8-e6-f4-g6.

9.Bxc6!?

This capture goes back to at least 1893, when Curt von Bardeleben played it against Johannes Metger of Unpin fame. The game was drawn, and 9.Bxc6!? has since been massively overtaken in popularity by 9.Re1.

9...bxc6 10.Rb1

Von Bardeleben played 10.Qd2, while modern strong players have tended to prefer 10.Nd2.

10...h6 11.Bh4 g5

How should White proceed?

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12.Bg3

I rejected 12.Nxg5!? hxg5 13.Bxg5 because of the simple 13...Qe6, missing that Black cannot meet 14.f4 with 14...Nh7? as White has 15.f5 Qd7 16.Bh6 f6 17.Qg4+ Kh8 18.Bxf8 Nxf8 19.Rf3, a more-or-less forced line that leaves White with rook, two pawns and an attack for bishop and knight. A likely continuation runs 19...Qf7 20.Rf3+ Nh7 21.Rh4! (to make Qg6 possible) Bd7 22.Qg6 Qe7 23.Rb7, when Black is abominably tied down and completely lost, according to the engines, eg 23...Rg8 24.Rxc7! Rxg6 25.fxg6 and 26.Rxh7+. The engines reckon that instead of 14...Nh7? Black should play 14...exf4 with a position that is unclear but probably favours Black.

12...Nh5 13.Qd2 Be6 14.c4 Bg4!?

This looks strange after first playing ...Be6, but it is Stockfish14.1's top choice. I guess the point is 13...Be6 was not a wasted tempo as it induced White to play 14.c4, thus making the white central pawns less flexible.

15.Qe3

It is important not to let the dark-square bishop be entombed by 15...Bxf3 16.gxf3.

15...c5 16.Rb7 Rfb8 17.Rfb1 Qd8 18.Nd2

Not 18.Rxb8 Rxb8 19.Rxb8 Qxb8 20.Nxg5?? as Black has a back-rank mate.

18...Qc8 19.R7b3 Rb6 20.Nf1 Rab8 21.Qc1 Qa6 22.Ne3 Be6 23.R1b2 Kg7 24.Qd1 Kg6 25.Nf5 Ng7

Not 25...Bxf5?? 26.exf5+ and 27.Qxh5.

26.Nxg7

The engines prefer 26.Ne3!? or 26.Ne7+.

26...Kxg7 27.f3 Bd7 28.Be1 Ba4 29.Rxb6 Rxb6!?

I thought the idea of forcing an exchange on b6 was to recapture with the a pawn. The engines agree Black has an edge after that, but it looks like it would be difficult to make much of it.

30.Qb1 Qb7 31.Rxb6 Qxb6!?

Again ...axb6 is slightly preferred by the engines.

32.Qxb6?!

Played on the assumption the ending with opposite-coloured bishops is an easy draw, but it proves much trickier than I imagined.

32...cxb6 33.Kf2 Bxc2 34.Ke2

The position after 34.Ke2 - the start of a difficult ending for White

The engines reckon Black has the upper hand, despite the opposite-coloured bishops. The point is Black's bishop is active, while White's has no targets and can only wait, at least for the foreseeable future, and try to find the best way to keep out the black king. However, there is a caveat to the engines' evaluations in such endings as I have often noticed engines have trouble understanding how drawish opposite-coloured bishops can be.

34....h5 35.Kd2 Ba4 36.Ke3 Kg6 37.g3 Bc2 38.Kd2 Ba4 39.h4?!

This is strongly disliked by the engines, who suggest repeating with 39.Ke3, a possible continuation being 39...f5 40.f4!? exf4+ 41.gxf4 g4 42.Bh4, when they still prefer Black but nowhere near as much as in the game.

39...gxh4 40.gxh4 f5 41.Bf2 f4

Black's king can never invade the white kingside, but White has fixed weaknesses at d3 and f3

Stockfish14.1.1 reckons Black is winning. Komodo12.1.1 at first 'only' gives Black the upper hand, but comes to agree Black is winning.

42.Kc1 Bd7 43.Kd2 Bh3 44.Ke2 a6 45.Be1 Bd7 46.Bc3 Kf7 47.Kd2 Ke8 48.Ke2 Kd8 49.Kd1 Kc7 50.Ke2 Kb7 51.Kd1

How should Black proceed?

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51...a5

The engines like 51...Kc6 52.Ke2 b5, meeting 53.cxb5+ with 53...Kxb5. A likely line runs 54.Kd2 Ka4 55.Ke2 Be6, but then White has 56.a3! as 56...Kxa3 57.Ba5 seems to give White sufficient counterplay. So instead the engines give a move such as 56...Bh3 or 56...Kb5, claiming a huge plus for Black - more than five pawns' worth, according to Stockfish14.1 - but the position seems to be drawn.

Note White should avoid the plausible 55.Bb2?, to keep out the black king, as then 55...Be6 threatens to capture the a2 pawn without allowing counterplay from the white bishop. So White has to reply 56.a3, when 56...Bh3 57.Bc3 Bf1 58.Bb2 Bg2 59.Ke2 Kb3 60.Ba1 (60.Bc1 Kc2 61.Bd2 Bxf3+) Kxa3 61.Bc3 Ka4 looks very strong for Black, although even here I am not certain Black is winning.

The game finished:

52.Ke2 Kc6 53.Kd1 Be6 54.Ke2 b5 55.cxb5+ Kxb5 56.a3 Bh3 57.Bd2 a4 58.Bc3 Ka6 59.Bb2 Kb5 60.Bc3 Kc6 61.Bb2 Kd7 62.Bc3 Ke7 63.Bb2 Bd7 64.Bc3 Bb5 65.Kd2 Ke6 66.Bb2 d5 67.exd5+ Kxd5 68.Bc3 c4 69.dxc4+ Bxc4 70.Ke1 e4 ½–½

In the final position Komodo12.1.1 gives Black the upper hand, but Stockfish14.1 correctly identifies the position as dead-equal.