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| Olomouc town hall's clock tower |
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| Close-up of the astronomical clock |
TURNS out the Olomouc seniors tournament is also for the Czech open championships for seniors 50+ and 65+.
Spanton (1852) - Jan Divis (1507)
Round One
Scandinavian
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2!?
The main moves are 5.Bc4 and especially 5.Nf3.
5...Qb6!?
The normal reply is 5...c6, but Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 prefer the text and 5...Bg4.
6.Nf3 Bf5!?
The engines much prefer this to the mainline 6...Bg4, when they reckon 7.h3 Bh5 (the most popular continuation in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database) 7.g4!? Bg6 8.Bc4 gives White a very good game.
But definitely not 6...Qxb2? 7.Rb1 Qa3 8.Nb5 etc.
7.Bc4 c6
The b2 pawn is still poisoned, eg 7...Qxb2? 8.Nb5 Bxc2 9.Qc1 Qxc1+ 10.Rxc1 etc.
8.0-0
After 7...c6 the game reached quite a mainline position in which best may be 8.Qe2!?, when both the b2 pawn (8...Qxb2? 9.Rb1) and the c2 pawn (8...Bxc2?! 9.Ne5) seem poisoned. The engines suggest 8...Nbd7 or 8...e6, but prefer White.
8...e6 9.Re1 Nbd7
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| How should White proceed? |
*****
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10.d5!?
Opening the position while ahead on development and with the opponent's king uncastled is usually a good idea, but possibly not here. The text may be a novelty. Normal is 10.Bb3 with a roughly equal game.
10...cxd5 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Bc5
Black gets to develop a piece with tempo.
13.Be3
Black is probably slightly better after 13.Qe2 0-0.
13...0-0-0
Clearly the white light-square bishop must retreat, but after ...
14.Bb3
... it is Black who has a lead in development (and no longer has an uncastled king).
14...Ne5 15.Bxc5
Very interesting is the engines' 15.Nxe5!? Rxd1 16.Raxd1, when White only has rook and knight for queen but is at least equal, according to the engines.
15...Rxd1 16.Bxb6 Rxa1 17.Rxa1 Nxf3+ 18.gxf3 axb6
JD offered a draw (in my time).
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| How would you assess the position? |
*****
*****
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White has three isolanis against Black's two, but the white 3-2 queenside majority may be easier to activate than the black 4-3 queenside majority. The engines reckon the position is dead-equal.
19.Rd1 Rd8 20.Rxd8+ Kxd8 21.Kg2 Kc7 22.f4 b5!?
This gains space, but putting a pawn on a light square, which means it can be attacked by the enemy bishop, is double-edged. However the engines are happy with the move.
23.Kf3 Kd6 24.Ke3 Kc5 25.c3 f6 26.Bd1 h6 27.Be2 g5 28.b4+ Kb6!?
The engines prefer a more-central posting with 28...Kc6.
29.fxg5 hxg5 30.Kd4 Bb1 31.a3 Ba2 32.c4 e5+!?
Other moves probably lose almost immediately.
33.Kc3 bxc4 34.Bxc4 Bb1 35.a4 Bf5 36.Bd5 Bd7 37.a5
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| Where should the black king go? |
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37...Kc7?!
This natural-looking withdrawal, while keeping the king reasonably close to the centre, may be a mistake. The engines give 37...Ka6!? 38.Kc4 b6 38.Bg8!? with an unclear position that they reckon slightly favours White.
38.Kc4 f5
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| What should White play? |
*****
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39.f3?
Throwing away White's advantage. Best is 39.Kc5, eg 39...e4 40.b5 Be8 41.b6+ with an overwhelming position.
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| Black to play and draw |
*****
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39...g4?
Black holds with 39...b6, eg 40.a6 Kb8 41.b5 Ka7, after which White cannot make progress, according to the engines. Also possibly good enough for a draw is 39...f4!?
40.fxg4 fxg4 41.b5 b6 42.a6 Kb8
This may seem similar to the holding line in the previous note, but the weakness of Black's kingside pawns makes all the difference.
The game finished:
43.Be4 Be6+ 44.Kc3 Bd7 45.Bd3 Be6 46.Bc4 Bf5 47.Kd2 Bd7 48.Ke3 Bf5 49.Bd3 Be6 50.Ke4 Bb3 51.Kxe5 Bd1 52.Kf4 Bf3 53.h4 1-0
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