WAS upfloated against a junior (born 2006) yesterday.
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| Wawel Royal Castle |
Mikołaj Krupiński (1826) - Spanton (1861)
U2200
Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f3!?
The main move is 7.Bc4 but there are 6,995 examples of the text in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database, and it has been played by grandmasters.
7...0-0 8.Qd2 d5
As is generally well-known, getting in ...d5 in one move, instead of preceding it with ...d6 as in the normal Dragon, is one of the chief points of playing the Accelerated Dragon, and is the reason Bc4 is the main continuation at move seven.
9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.0-0-0
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| There are 2,144 examples of this position in Mega22 - and in the majority of cases it is White, not Black, to move |
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10...Be6
This is Black's commonest continuation, but Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 prefer 10...Qc7!?, claiming an edge for Black. Note that both moves unpin the d pawn, which cannot capture on e4 because of Qxd8 etc.
11.e5?!
This is probably expecting too much of White's position. Stockfish15 prefers 11.Bh6; Komodo13.02 gives 11.exd5.
11...Nd7 12.f4 f6
Even stronger, according to the engines, is 12...Qa5 or 12...Rb8.
13.exf6 Nxf6 14.g3!?
This seems to be a novelty. The main move in Mega22, albeit from a small sample, is 14.Bd4, with equality according to the engines.
14...Qa5
Threatening, among other things, 15...Ne4! 16.Nxe4 Qxa2 with a winning attack.
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| How should White meet the threat? |
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15.a3?
The engines give 15.Bd4 c5 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 with a slight edge for Black.
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| Black to play and win |
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15...Rab8?
White's last move did not stop the threat. Winning is 15...Ne4! as 16.Nxe4 fails to 16...Bxb2+! 17.Kxb2 Rab8+, eg 18.Ka2 d4+! (18...dxe4 is not so clear).
16.Bd4 Rb7?
Black is much better after 16...c5 17.Be5 d4. The text lets White get queens off.
17.Ne4 Qxd2+ 18.Nxd2
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| How would you assess this queen-less middlegame? |
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Black is better developed but has much-the-worse pawn structure. The engines reckon the position is equal.
18...Ng4 19.Nb3 Bf5 20.Ba6 Rbb8 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Rd2 Rb6 23.Nc5
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| How should Black proceed? |
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23...Nf6
This is OK, but Black can get rid of the backward e pawn with 23...e5! I rejected it because of 24.h3 Nf6 25.fxe5?, but the engines point out 25...Ne4 wins.
24.Re1 Ne4 25.Nxe4 Bxe4 26.Bd3 Bxd3 27.Rxd3
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| White is clearly better in this rook-and-pawn ending, but by how much? |
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Black's extra pawn island, backward e pawn and isolated a pawn add up to a trio of disadvantages, but the engines reckon White's edge is worth less than half a pawn.
27...Rb7 28.Rde3 Kf7 29.b3
Played to let the white king advance.
29...Rc8 30.Re5 Rd7 31.Kd2 c5 32.Kd3
The engines reckon White still has an edge after 32.Re6 Rcc7 33.R1e5.
32...Rc6 33.f5!? gxf5 34.Rxf5 Rf6 35.Ref1 Rxf5
Letting all the rooks come off after 35...Rdd6 is a drawn pawn ending, according to the engines, but I was not so sure.
36.Rxf5+ Kg7 37.c4 e6 38.Rf2
No better is 38.Rh5 Kg6 39.g4 a5.
38...a5 39.cxd5 exd5 40.Rc2 Rb7 (½–½, 54 moves).
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