FACED a German last night.
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| Landward-looking view of the local lighthouse that has been used in the congress logo: CSJ |
Carsten Becker (2006) - Spanton (1861)
Queen's Pawn Game
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.h3!?
This extreme way of preventing the Chigorin-style ...Bg4 has been tried by players rated over 2400.
3...e6
Most popular in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database is 3...Bf5, when Black is playing a Jobava-Prié with colours reversed and White having the extra move h3.
4.Ne5?!
This seems to be a novelty, and almost certainly not a good one.
4...Nxe5 5.dxe5 f6!?
Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 prefer 5...Ne7 or 5...Bd7.
6.Bf4
The engines' 6.e4!? may be better.
6...fxe5 7.Bxe5 Nf6 8.g3 Bd6 9.Bxd6 Qxd6 10.Bg2!?
Judging by body language, this was an oversight, but it is the top choice of the engines for quite some time, but then they fluctuate between it and 10.Nd2.
10...Qb4+ 11.Nd2 Qxb2 12.0-0 0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Black is a pawn up and even has a small lead in development. But the black bishop is bad and there will be difficulties getting the bishop and queen's rook into play. The engines reckon Black has a slight edge.
13.a4
The engines prefer attacking the black centre with 13.e4 or 13.c4.
13...Rb8!?
This is Stockfish15's second choice, marginally behind 13...b6. Komodo13.02 likes 13...Qc3, narrowly ahead of 13...b6.
14.e4 Qd4
The engines prefer 14...b6.
15.Qe2 dxe4?!
Almost certainly better is 15...b6. I was a little worried about White gaining space with 16.e5?!, but the engines strongly dislike that, presumably because it denies White the chance to open lines.
After ...
16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4
... Black's queenside problems and weak e pawn mean White has full compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.
17...Qf6 18.Ra3 Qh6?!
Threatening h3 and preventing White hitting the queen with Rf3, but the queen is now away from the action in the centre and on the queenside. Not 18...Qe5?? 19.Bxh7+ etc, but the engines' 18...Qe7 is more solid.
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| How should White proceed? |
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19.Rd1!?
The engines agree the h3 pawn does not necessarily need defending, but they prefer 19.Qc4!?, although Stockfish15, but not Komodo13.02, equally likes 19.h4.
19...e5!
The engines agree with offering the c7 pawn to complete development.
20.Qc4+ Be6?!
But the engines strongly prefer 20...Kh8, which gets the king away from checks on the a2-g8 diagonal (but raises the possibility of a back-rank mate), and if 21.Qxc7 then 21...Bxh3 with a roughly level game.
21.Qxc7 Qxh3 22.Qxe5 Rbe8
The engines prefer 22...Bf5 or 22...Bg4.
23.Re3
Not 23.Bxb7? Bg4 24.Qd5+ Kh8, eg 25.Rb1 (25.Rf1? Rxf2! is even worse) Rxf2!
23...b6?
The engines reckon best is 23...Bf7, but then 24.Qc7 is strong.
24.Bc6 Re7
There is no defence, eg 24...Bd7 loses to 25.Bxd7 Rxe5 26.Bxh3.
25.Qd6 Rff7 26.Qd8+ 1-0
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