New Venue

PLAYED last night at Railsport's new venue, Enterprise House in Westbourne Terrace, W2, which has a playing room with plenty of space for a five-board match. I was on board two for Battersea 2 in division two of the Central London League.

Spanton (1955) - John Bass (1953)

French Alekhine-Chatard

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4!? Bxg5!?

Stockfish15 approves of accepting the gambit, although Komodo13.02 fluctuates between the text and declining with 6...h6 or 6...0-0. The mainline in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database runs 6...a6 7.Qg4 Bxg5 8.hxg5 c5 9.g6!? f5 10.Qf4 h6, which Komodo13.02 reckons equalises but Stockfish15 claims gives White has the upper hand.

7.hxg5 Qxg5 8.Nh3 Qe7 9.Qg4!?

Marginally more popular in Mega22 is 9.Nf4, but the engines prefer the text.

9...g6 10.Bd3?!

This bishop is not doing much here. The engines prefer 10.0-0-0 or 10.Ng5.

10...Nc6 11.Nb5!?

This forces Black to do something about the attack on c7. The main move is 11.0-0-0.

11...Nb6

This deflects the knight from the kingside, but it is hard to believe 11...Qd8?! or 11...Kd8?! is an improvement. However Black can flick in 11...h5 before moving the knight, possibly to f8.

12.Ng5 a6!?

Stockfish15 is keen on this apparent novelty, while Komodo13.02 likes it equally with the known 12...h5.

How should White proceed?

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13.Nxh7?

The engines point out 13.Nxf7!, eg 13...Qxf7 14.Bxg6 Qxg6 15.Qxg6 hxg6 16.Rxh8+ Kd7, with what they reckon is a completely equal position, or 13...Kxf7 14.Bxg6+ Kg8 15.Bh5+ Qg7 16.Nxc7, when Stockfish15 gives White at least a slight edge, but Komodo13.02 again calls the position completely equal.

How should Black respond?

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13...Kd8?

Correct is 13...axb5 14.Nf6+ Qxf6 15.exf6 Rxh1+ 16.Bf1, when Black has rook and two knights for a queen.

14.Nd6??

Somehow I thought Black could only capture once on d6. White is winning (Stockfish15) or at least has the upper hand (Komodo13.02) after 14.Nc3.

14...cxd6 15.exd6 Qxd6 16.0-0-0 Kc7 17.Nf6 Bd7

Black has a large advantage - Stockfish15 reckons +7.24 while Komodo13.02 gives +4.15.

The game finished:

18.Kb1 Rad8 19.c3 e5 20.Nxd7 Nxd7 21.dxe5 Ndxe5 22.Qg3 Rxh1 23.Rxh1 Nxd3 24.Qxd3 Qf4 0-1

The match finished 2.5-2.5.