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| You never know what you may see when you turn a corner in Bregenz old town |
Spanton (1860) - Julius Semling (1604)
Sicilian Bb5(+)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0-0 Ngf6 6.Qe2
6.Re1 is marginally more popular in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database, and is preferred by Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02. Magnus Carlsen has played both moves.
6...e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.c4 Rc8 10.b3 0-0 11.Rd1 a6 12.Bb2 Qb6 13.Nf3!?
An unnecessary retreat.
13...Rfd8 14.Nc3 Bf8 15.Rdc2 Nc5 16.Rad1 Rd7 17.Nd4?!
But by now the knight's presence on d4 is probably more harmful than helpful as it masks White's coverage of the d5 square.
17...Rcd8
Consistent, but the engines reckon Black can already successfully challenge the Maróczy Bind with 17...d5!?
18.Kh1?!
Probably better is 18.Nc2, preventing 18...d5.
18...d5 19.e5?!
The game is equal after 19.cxd5 exd5 20.e5 Nfe4 21.Rc2, according to the engines.
19...Nfe4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Rc2
Not 21.Rd3 dxc4 22.bxc4 Nc5.
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| How should Black proceed? |
*****
*****
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*****
21...Bc5?
Black has a slight edge (Stockfish15), or at least the better side of equals (Komodo13.02), after 21...Nc5.
22.cxd5 Rxd5?
Better is 22...exd5, although White is slightly better.
23.Qxe4 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Rxd4 25.Bxd4 f5
Not 25...Rxd4?? 26.Qxd4 Qxd4 27.Rc8 Qd8 28.Rxd8#.
26.exf6 Rxd4 27.f7+?
Much better is 27.Rc8+ Kf7 28.Qf3 gxf6 29.h3, according to the engines.
27...Kxf7 28.Qf3+ Ke7
The engines prefer 28...Kg6!?
29.g3?!
Almost certainly better is 29.h3.
29...Rd5?!
The engines much prefer 29...Qb5.
30.Qe4 Rf5
30...h5!? is the engines' choice.
31.Kg2 h6 32.Re2?
The black king is clearly the more vulnerable, so letting Black exchange queens is a mistake.
32...Qc6 33.Qxc6 bxc6
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| Black has four pawn islands against White's two, but the position is equal, according to the engines |
*****
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*****
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| After much manoeuvring the game reached a position in which it is White to play and draw |
*****
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69.Rg4?
69.Rc1 holds the balance.
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| Black to play and win |
*****
*****
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69...c4?
The engines show there is no defence to 69...e4. eg 70.Rg1 e3 71.Re1 Ke4 etc.
70.g6 c3
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| White to play and draw |
*****
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71.g7?
Both 71.Rg1 and 71.Kg5 draw, eg 71.Rg1 c2 72.Kg5 Kd4 73.Kf6 Rf8+ 74.Ke7 Rc8 75.g7, after which neither side can make progress.
71...c2 72.Rg1 Rxg7
The game finished:
73.Rc1 Rc7 74.Kg3 Kd4 75.Kf2 Kd3 76.Ke1 Rh7 0-1
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