THIS is my second game from today's double-rounder.
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| Footie table at The Gate leisure centre |
Raj K Mohindra (1810 ECF/1559 Fide) - Spanton (1949 ECF/1852 Fide)
Giuoco Piano
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3
This first appears in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database in 1836, which is 216 years after 5.d4. The latter occurs 21,713 times in Mega22, but the text has overtaken it with 22,132 appearances.
5...a6
This preparation for withdrawing the dark-square bishop out of range of the white pawns first appears in Mega22 in 1976, although the same position was reached by transposition in a game from 1880.
6.b4!?
Expanding with tempo like this is much less popular than withdrawing the white king's bishop with 6.Bc2.
6...Ba7 7.a4 0-0 8.0-0
Almost certainly not 8.b5?! axb5 9.axb5 Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Rxa1 11.Bb2, after which Black seems to emerge from the complications with an advantage, eg 11...Ng4+ 12.Ke2 Rxb1 13.Qxb1 Ne7. White could instead try 9.Bb5, but Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 reckon 9...Na5 10.Ba3 Re8 11.Nbd2 c6 12.Bc4 Nh5 leaves Black on top, eg 13.Bc1 d5 14.exd5 Bf5!? 15.Nb3 Nxb3 16.Bxb3 Nxd5 with good prospects. If in this line White grabs a pawn with 10.Nxe5?! then 10...c6 is strong, eg 11.Bc4 d6 12.Nf3 Nxc4 13.dxc4 Nxe4, after which Black has the bishop-pair and much-the-better pawn-structure.
8...d6 9.h3
The mainline in Mega22 runs 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bh4 g5!? 11.Bg3 with an unclear position (Stockfish15 marginally prefers Black; Komodo13.02 gives a tiny edge to White).
9...Nh5!?
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| Black's last move seems to be a novelty - how should White respond? |
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10.Nxe5?!
The engines do not like this pawn grab. Instead they give White at least a slight edge after 10.Bg5 Nf6 (10...f6 is illegal) 11.Nbd2.
10...Nxe5 11.Qxh5 Nxc4 12.dxc4 Be6 13.Na3?!
Probably better is 13.Re1, when 13...Bxc4 14.Be3 Bxe3 15.Rxe3 slightly favours White, according to Stockfish15 (Komodo13.02 disagrees). The engines reckon 13...f5!? may be better, when Black's bishops, activity and lack of pawn weaknesses seem to compensate for White's extra space and pawn.
13...Qd7
The engines like 13...Qf6 14.Bd2 Bd7!?
14.a5
The engines prefer giving the pawn back, eg the complicated line 14.Bf4!? Qxa4 15.Nb5 Qc2 16.Nxc7 Bxc4 17.Nxa8 Bxf1 18.Rxf1 Qxe4 19.Bxd6 Rxa8 ends in equality.
14...f5 15.Qe2?!
Komodo13.02 quite likes this but Stockfish15 is strongly against it, suggesting instead 15.exf5 Rxf5 16.Qh4, although Black looks very active.
15...f4
The pin on the f2 pawn makes this push-past particularly threatening.
16.Qf3!?
This is best, according to the engines.
This is best, according to the engines.
16...g5!?
The engines do not like this at first but it comes to be Stockfish15's top choice, although Komodo13.02 prefers 16...Qe7 or 17...Qf7.
17.Qh5?!
The queen becomes a target here. Perhaps best is 17.e5, when the engines give 17...Qg7!? 18.Qxb7, and now Stockfish15's 18...g4 is interesting. After the further moves 19.hxg4 (19.exd6!? is also complicated) Qxg4 20.Qe4 White is two pawns up but both 20...Rae8 and 20...Rad8 seem promising for Black.
17...Qg7 18.Kh1?!
Breaking the pin on the f2 pawn, but the king turns out to be no safer on h1 than it was on g1. However there does not seem to be a satisfactory defence.
18...Rf6
White is busted.
The game finished:
19.Qe2 f3 20.Qd2 fxg2+ 21.Kxg2 Raf8 22.Bb2 Qh6 0-1
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