The full game can be seen at S8 but here I want to concentrate on the interesting system White used against the Berlin Defence in the Spanish.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 the most popular moves are 4.0-0, 4.d3 and 4.Nc3, all of which have been tried by Magnus Carlsen. But Vishy Anand, Peter Svidler and Michael Adams are among modern grandmasters who have played 4.Qe2!? The move was also a favourite with old-time greats,including Howard Staunton, Henry Bird and Mikhail Chigorin.
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| How should Black proceed? |
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One of the main points of Qe2 is it protects e4 while still allowing White to build a centre with c3 and d4. A popular reply is the cautious 4...d6, but the immediate 5.d4 gives White a slight edge, according to Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02. I preferred the more-active 4...Bc5, which is possible because, although 5.Bxc6 dxc6?! 6.Nxe5 Qe7 7.Nd3 favours White thanks to the attack on the black dark-square bishop, Black has 5...bxc6, when 6.Nxe5 Qxe7 7.Nd3 runs into 7...Ba6.
Easily White's commonest continuation is 5.c3, to which I replied 5...d6, which, as with ...d6 at move four, may be overly cautious. The game continued 6.0-0 but the engines' 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb4+ looks good for White after both 8.Nc3 or 8.Bd2.
Probably best for Black at move five is to castle, preventing an immediate d4 and keeping the option of ...d5. The mainline then in ChessBase's Mega 2022 runs 6.0-0 Re8 7.d3 h6, reaching an equal position, according to the engines.
CONCLUSION: 5.Qe2!? is by no means a refutation of the Berlin, but Black needs to play actively to avoid allowing White to gain an advantage.
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