4NCL Weekend Four: Game Two

PLAYED on board one (of six) for Wessex Some Stars B against Crowthorne B in division four today.

Spanton (1976 ECF/1835 Fide) - Peter Tart (1951 ECF/1863 Fide)

Petrov

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4!?

This well-known "beginners' mistake" is the second-most popular continuation in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database.

There are 2,331 examples of this position in Mega23 - how should White respond?

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4.Qe2

This seems best, although Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1 also like 4.d4. At first glance 4.Nxf7?? might look good in view of 4...Kxf7? 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qd5+ Kg7 7.Qxe4, but the engines reckon Black has good compensation for a pawn, and anyway has a winning improvement in the shape of 4...Qe7.

4...Qe7 5.Qxe4 d6 6.d4 dxe5 7.Qxe5!?

Possibly better is 7.dxe5. The problem with the text is it lets Black free a diagonal with tempo for Black's dark-square bishop.

7...Qxe5+ 8.dxe5 Nc6 9.Bf4 Bf5 10.Bb5!?

Black was fine after 10.c3 0-0-0 11.Nd2 Nxe5!? 12.Bxe5 Re8 in Aleks Bancarewicz (1920) - Marek Chomczyk (2327), Polish Blitz Championship (Suwałki) 2022 (0-1, 29 moves).

10...Bxc2 11.Nc3 0-0-0 12.0-0 Nd4 13.Rac1 Bb4 14.Bg5!? a6!? 15.Bxd8 axb5

How should White proceed?

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16.Bg5?

Black is better after this. The engines give 16.Bxc7 Bxc3 17.bxc3 Ne2+ 18.Kh1 Nxc1 19.Rxc1 Kxc7 20.Rxc2, when White is a pawn up but cannot hold on to it after 20...Re8, eg 21.f4 f6 22.Re2 (22.exf6?? Re1#) fxe5 23.fxe5 Kc6 etc.

16...Bxc3 17.Rxc2

Or 17.bxc3 Ne2+ 18.Kh1 Nxc1 19.Rxc1 Bf5, after which Black has the upper hand, according to the engines.

17...Nxc2 18.bxc3 Na3 19.f4

19.Rd1 stops quick activation of the black king, but the engines reckon Black has the upper hand.

19...Kd7 20.Kf2 Nc4 21.Rd1+ Ke6!?

The engines give Black at least a slight edge after 21...Kc6.

22.Rd8?

Preventing the black rook from harassing the a2 pawn, but the right way to do this is 22.Bd8!?.

22...Rxd8 23.Bxd8 c6 24.Ke2?

This loses material. Instead 24.Kf3 keeps the game going, eg 24...Nd2+ 25.Ke2 Ne4 26.Kd3 Nc5+ 27.Kd4.

24...Kf5 25.Kf3

Almost certainly worse is 25.Ke2?! Ke4.

25...Nd2+ 26.Ke3 Nf1+ 27.Kf3 Nxh2+ 28.Kg3 Nf1+ 29.Kf2 Nd2 30.Ke3 Nc4+!?

The engines agree this is best.

31.Kf3 h5 32.Be7 Nb6 33.Bh4 Nd5 0-1