Kent Debut

RECENTLY Tim Gluckman, captain of Kent U2050, asked if I would like to play for his team as my membership of Hastings & St Leonards, who are in the Kent League, makes me eligible.

I was happy to agree, not least because Sussex, my previous county, only have one out of a possible five sides in the Southern Counties Chess Union championships.

I made my debut for Kent U2050 yesterday on board three away to Essex.

Spanton (2042 ECF) - Roman Ismailov (1982 ECF)

Caro-Kann Classical

1.Nc3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3

More popular is 6.h4, but the two moves often transpose.

6...Nd7 7.h4 h6 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Ngf6

Here 10...e6 is more popular, but again transpositions are frequent.

11.Bf4

More common in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database is 11.Bd2.

11...e6 12.0-0-0

Komodo12.1.1 narrowly prefers the much-less popular 12.0-0!?

12...Be7 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6

How should White proceed?

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15.Qe2!?

This involves a positional pawn sacrifice, and is the most popular move in Mega22. More solid is 15.Qd3, when 15...Qa5 16.Kb1 Nxh5?? fails to 17.Bd2.

15...Qa5 16.Kb1 Nxh5!?

Komodo12.1.1 and Stockfish14.1 prefer 16..Qb5.

17.Bd2 Qf5

Dmitry Jakovenko (2691) - Victor Bologan (2658), Corus B (Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands) 2007, saw 17...Qd5!? 18.Ne5 Nf6 19.f3 b5 20.g4 Rf8!? 21.Bf4 b4, when the game was prematurely agreed drawn in a position probably favouring White.

18.Ne5 Nf4

18...Nf6? 19.Rde1 gave White a large advantage, according to the engines, in Robin Swinkels (2422) - Jonathan Grant (2283), EU Championship (Drseden) 2007, and Swinkels went on to win on move 33.

19.Bxf4!

All three games in Mega22 to reach the position after 18...Nf4 saw 20.Qf3 Nd5, when Black is equal, according to the engines, and would have at least a slight edge after 20...Ng6, they reckon.

19...Qxf4 20.Rh3 Bf6 21.g3 Qf5

What should White play?

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22.g4?

Much better is 22.Rh5, when RI reckoned he intended 22...Qh7, claiming Black would be better. However the engines give 23.d5! with a strong initiative, eg 23...Bxe5 24.Rxe5 etc or 23...cxd5 24.Qb5+ etc. A possible improvement is the engines' 22...g5, but 23.f4 seems strong, eg 23...Qh7 24.d5 Bxe5 25.d6 or 24.Rdh1 gxf4 25.d5, although these lines are less clear.

22...Qf4 23.Rb3?!

White has full compensation for a pawn after 23.Rf3, according to the engines.

How should Black proceed?

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23...b6?

RI explained in the postmortem he meant to play 23...Rb8, the point being 24.Nxc6?? loses the knight to 24...bxc6 as the black queen defends the black queen's rook. Instead White should reply 24.Rf3 with good compensation for a pawn, according to the engines, which reckon best is 23...Bxe5 24.dxe5 with at least equality after 24...b5 or 24...0-0!?

24.Nxc6

Even stronger seems to be the engines' 24.Rf3!? Qh2 25.Qe4.

24...0-0 25.Ne5?

The engines much prefer 25.Re3 or 25.c4.

25...Rfd8

Very good for Black is 25...Bxe5!? 26.dxe5 Rfd8, according to the engines.

26.Rf3 Qh2 27.Rfd3

The engines prefer 27.Re3 so as to meet 27...Bxe5 with 28.Rxe5.

27...Rac8 ½–½

White, if anyone, is slightly better after 28.Re3, according to the engines.

Essex won the match 9.5-6.5.