Sunday, 26 February 2023

Graz Game Six

Spanton (1883) - Varvara Pakina (1780)
Sicilian Bb5(+)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.d4!?
One idea behind this, rather the more-normal castling, is to smoothly set up a Maróczy Bind with c4. True, after 5.0-0 Ngf6, White is not obliged to block the c2 pawn with 6.Nc3, but neither is it certain the king's rook belongs on e1 or the queen on e2.
5...cxd4 6.Qxd4 Ngf6 7.0-0 g6 8.e5!?
Most popular is 8.Nc3, while 8.c4 completes the Bind, but the text is almost as popular in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database.
8...dxe5 9.Nxe5 Bg7
White to play and lose
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10.Rd1?? Nxe5 0-1

2 comments:

  1. Oh dear! I wondered what had happened. Are there any other examples of 10. Rd1? in the databases? One of those moves that look good at a glance. How much time did you give? See you in Kos!

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, it was definitely a novelty!

    ReplyDelete