The full game can be seen at M9 but here I want to concentrate on the opening.
Nimzowitsch Defence
After 1.e4 Nc6 I continued 2.Nf3!?, which occurs 16,488 times in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database, compared with 12,196 for 2.d4, and has been preferred by Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov.
I was slightly surprised to find 2...e5 is the second-most popular reply as in my, admittedly limited, experience blacks usually avoid transposing to a double-e pawn opening. But 2...e6!? is certainly not popular, although it was played by Aron Nimzowitsch and has been tried by modern grandmasters.
After 3.d4 d5 4.e5 White must be better, but Aleksandr Inđić (2607) has been happy to defend Black's position at least six times, albeit at blitz.
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| How should Black proceed? |
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Challenging the base of White's French-style centre with ...c5 will take time, so hitting the head with 4...f6 is logical.
The most popular continuation in Mega22 is 5.Bb5!?, while Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 suggest 5.Bd3. I preferred 5.Be2, and after 5...fxe5 6.dxe5 Bc5 I got my king to safety and prepared Re1 with 7.0-0.
Black also made ready to castle and to add pressure to e5 by playing 7...Nge7, at which I played 8.Bf4, which is not much liked by the engines. Indeed after 8...0-0 9.Bg3 Nf5 Stockfish15 gives Black an edge, although Komodo13.02 reckons the position is even.
Instead of developing the dark-square bishop they suggest attacking the Black centre with 8.c4. Then 8...Ng6 9.cxd5 is good for White after both 9...Qxd5 10.Bd2!? Ncxe5 11.Nc3 Nxf3+ 12.Bxf3 and 9...exd5 10.Nc3, according to the engines.
So Stockfish15 suggests 8...dxc4, eg 9.Qxd8+ Nxd8 10.Nc3 Bd7 11.Bxc4 Bc6 with approximate equality, while Komodo13.02 gives 8...0-0 9.Nc3 a6!? 10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxe7!? Nxe7, slightly preferring White.
Conclusion: few players would argue that White is not better in the diagram, but it may well be experience of how to play such positions is more important than a theoretical edge.
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