The full game can be seen at N3 but here I want to concentrate on the key point in the opening, which was a Giuoco Piano.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 White expanded on the queenside with 6.b4!? Ba7 7.a4.
The further moves 7...0-0 8.0-0 reached a position in which Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 reckon Black can hit back in the centre with 8...d5!?
I played the more solid, and more popular, 8...d6, bringing the game to a position occurring 111 times in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database.
There is no consensus on how White should proceed - 13 different moves appear in Mega22. The engines suggest 9.Nbd2 or the game continuation 9.h3.
I decided White's play was a little slow, and tried to take advantage of this with the apparent-novelty 9...Nh5!? (the main move in Mega22 is 9...Ne7, when the engines reckon White may have a tiny pull).
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| How should White respond to Black's kingside play? |
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Thanks to the pin on the f2 pawn, White must take into consideration the possibility of ...Ng3 as well ...Nf4. However the engines reckon if it were Black's turn the best move would be ...Qf6.
White can counter all these threats with 10.Bg5, when the pin on the f7 pawn prevents ...f6, and so Black has nothing better than 10...Nf6, according to the engines, which means White would in effect have played two moves in a row (9.h3 and 9.Bg5).
In the game White could not resist grabbing a pawn with 10.Nxe5, but after 10...Nxe5 11.Qxh5 Nxc4 12.dxc4 Black had obvious compensation for a pawn in the shape of the bishop-pair and a superior pawn-structure.
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