London League Summer Open Round Six

I HAD to take half-point byes in rounds four and five because of other commitments, but I was able to play last night.

David Okike (2242) - Spanton (1949)

Spanish Berlin

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d5!?

Position after 5...d5!?

As an anonymous annotator in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database states: "Sidestepping some theory here. The normal move is ...0-0 or ....d6, but ...d5 is logical if Black can get away [with] it. Kryvoruchko tried it recently with success against Hansen."

The move sems to have been first played in 2004, but the 10th outing did not come, at least in Mega22, until 2013. The bit about "sidestepping some theory" is dated, but even so there are only 185 examples of 5...d5!? in Mega22. Black scores a semi-respectable 44%, with players rated an average of 2443 turning in a 2409 performance. 

6.Nxe5

Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 like what has become the mainline, ie 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Bc4!?, eg 7...Qd6 8.b4 Bb6 9.a4 e4!? 10.dxe4, claiming White may have a slight edge. But they also like 6.Nbd2, and other moves seem reasonable, so White has plenty of choice.

6...0-0 7.Bxc6

The 'obvious' 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bxc6 allows serious counterplay starting with 8...Bxf2+!

7...bxc6 8.0-0

Not 8.Nxc6? Qe8, but more popular than the text is 8.d4, when the mainline runs 8...Bb6 9.0-0 Nxe4 10.Nxc6 Qd6 11.Nb4!?, with the engines reckoning Black has full compensation for a pawn.

8...dxe4 9.d4 Bd6

Although the move-order is modern, the game has transposed to a line known for more than 150 years.

10.Bg5

Gustav Neumann - Adolf Anderssen, Match (Berlin) 1864, saw the risky 10.Nxc6!? Qe8 11.Na5? (better is 11.Ne5) Qb5 12.Nb3 Bg4 13.Qd2 Bxh2+! 14.Kxh2 Qxf1 (0-1, 18 moves).

10...Bf5?!

Apparently a novelty, but almost certainly not a good one. It develops a piece but carries no threat.

Fritz Riemann - Anderssen, Casual (Breslau - modern Wrocław, Poland) 1877, went 10...Ba6 11.Re1 Bxe5 12.dxe5 Qxd1 13.Rxd1, when 13...Nd5 gives complete equality, according to the engines (the game was drawn anyway).

11.Nd2 h6 12.Bh4 g5?!

This thrust is nearly always weakening in this type of position, and this game is probably no exception. Sensible is 12...Re8, although the engines prefer White after 13.Ndc4.

13.Bg3 Bxe5 14.dxe5 Nd5 15.Re1 Rb8 16.Qc1 h5?

Definitely weakening. Best, according to the engines, is 16...Qe7, which sets a little trap in that 17.Nxe4? runs into 17...Bxe4 18.Rxe4 f5 etc. Even so the engines reckon White retains the upper hand.

17.h3 h4 18.Bh2 f6 19.Nxe4 Bxe4 20.Rxe4 f5 21.Rd4

White is a pawn up, has the better pawn-structure and the safer king - Black's only compensation is a slight lead in development

*****

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*****

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*****

21...Qe7 22.f4 g4 23.Kh1 g3 24.Bg1 Qe6 25.b3 Nb6 26.Qa3 Nd5 27.Rc1 Qh6?

Pointless in that the capture ...Nxf4 is not threatened as White has the reply Be3.

28.c4 Nb4 29.Qb2

Also possible is 29.Qxa7.

29...Rfd8 30.Rcd1 Qf8 31.Qe2 Rxd4 32.Bxd4 c5 33.Be3 Rd8 34.a3 Nc6 35.Rd5 Nd4 36.Qh5

Black's position is hopeless.

The game finished:

36...Rxd5 37.cxd5 Nxb3 38.Qxh4 Qg7 39.Qh5 Nd4 40.Bxd4 cxd4 41.Qxf5 Qe7 42.Qg4+ Kf7 43.Qxg3 1-0