Lessons From Transylvania V

IN round five of the Brașov International I had white against a 1751.
The full game can be seen at B5 but here I want to concentrate on what seems a promising novelty.

The game began 1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bb5 - in effect White is playing a Veresov against Black's Dutch Defence.

Commonest now is 3...d5, stopping a central break by White with e4.

The mainline in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database runs 4.Bxf6!? exf6 5.e3 Be6 6.Bd3 Nc6!?, which Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 reckon may slightly favour White.

I preferred 4.e3, and there followed 4...e6 5.Bd3 Be7 6.Nh3!? 0-0 7.Nf4, after which Black went for exchanges with 7...Ne4.

The game Weiqi Zhou (2638) - Yangyi Yu (2735), China Team Championship 2016, continued 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.0-0 c5 10.Nce2 with equality, according to the engines (½–½, 31 moves).

But I offered a pawn with 8.h4!?

How should Black meet what seems to be a novelty?

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Black has two ways of accepting the gambit.

A) 8...Nxg5?! 9.hxg5 Bxg5 10.Qh5, when 10...Bh6 11.0-0-0 gives White a strong attack, according to Stockfish15, although Komodo13.02 only gives White a slight edge. The latter engine prefers 11.g4, meeting 11...Qg5 with 12.gxf5, when 12...Qxh5 13.Rxh5 Bxf4 14.exf4 looks promising for White.

Instead of 10...Bh6 Black can play 10...h6 but 11.Ng6 is good, especially as the natural-looking 11...Rf7 is hit by 12.f4 Bf6 13.g4 with what the engines agree is a winning attack.

B) The other method of accepting the gambit, 8...Bxg5 9.hxg5 Qxg5 occurred in the game, when the engines reckon best is 10.g4!?, the idea being to meet 10...Qxg4 with 11.Qxg4 fxg4 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Bxe4, when they reckon White has more than enough for a pawn.

Instead of capturing on g4, Black could develop with 10...Nc6, when 11.gxf5 Nxc3 12.bxc3 has to be met with 12...e5!, according to the engines, as 12...exf5 13.Kd2!? gives White a very strong attack. After 12...e5! play might go 13.Nxd5 Bxf5 and now, rather than 14.Nxc7 Rac8, the engines suggest 14.Qh5!? Qxh5 15.Rxh5 g6 16.Rh4, hovering between giving White a slight edge and calling the game equal.

With accepting the gambit looking risky, albeit playable, it is not surprising the engines prefer declining it. Stockfish15 suggests 8...Nc6!? 9.Bxe7 Nxe7!? 10.Nce2 c5 11.c3 with a roughly level game. Komodo13.02 likes 8...Nxc3 9.bxc3 c5 10.c4!? cxd4 11.exd4, and now suggests a delayed grab of the pawn with 11...Bxg5 12.hxg5 Qxg5 but gives White a slight edge after 13.Qf3 (Stockfish15 agrees).

CONCLUSION: offering a pawn at move eight is a sound gambit, and a tricky one for an unprepared opponent.