Championship Chess

PLAYED last night in the Battersea club championship.

Spanton (1944) - Malcolm Dancy (1795)

Siclian Bb5(+)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4!?

This has a dubious reputation but has been played by modern grandmasters.

4.Nxd4 cxd4 5.0-0

There are 43 games in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database with the blunder 5.d3??, although 14 blacks managed to miss the winning 5...Qa5+.

5...a6 6.Bc4!? g6!?

Perhaps 6...e6, blunting the white light-square bishop, is more logical, although it scores only 31% in Mega23, while the less-popular text scores 44%.

7.c3 Bg7 8.cxd4 Bxd4 9.Qb3!?

This more-or-less obliges Black to spend a tempo on ...e6, but it leaves the white light-square bishop without a good retreat-square from c4.

9...e6 10.Nc3 b5

Dmitrij Kollars (2562) - Alban Delorme (2320), Chess,com Rapid 2019, saw 10...Ne7 11.Ne2 Bg7 12.d4 d5 13.Bd3 with a slight edge for White, according to Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1 (1-0, 58 moves).

11.Be2 Bb7

The engines are not keen on this natural-looking move, preferring 11...Ne7 or 11...Qb6.

12.d3 Qb6 13.Bg5

Aiming for kingside play, but the plan proves to be slow. The engines reckon White should be playing on the queenside, eg 13.a4 bxa4 14.Qxb6 Bxb6 15.Nxa4, claiming a slight edge for White.

13...Ne7 14.Bh4

Black has the upper hand after 14.Bxe7 Kxe7, according to the engines, but they do not like the text either, suggesting 15.Bf3 (Stockfish15.1) or 15.Bd1!? (Komodo14.1).

14...Bc6 15.Kh1 0-0

How would you assess the position now both sides have castled?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

White has (laboriously) prepared an f-pawn push as part of a kingside attack, but most white pieces are not well-placed to support it. Meanwhile Black's pieces are well-placed to control the centre and thus render the white kingside-attack harmless. The engines reckon Black has the upper hand.

16.f4 Bg7 17.f5?!

'Consistent', but missing that Black has a good fork.

17...Nd4 18.Qd1

How should Black proceed?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

18...b4?!

Almost certainly better is the simple 18...exf5 19.exf5 Nxf5. In the postmortem White got dangerous play by sacrificing the exchange, but the engines are unimpressed, eg 20.Rxf5!? gxf5 21.Bf3 Rfe8 (21...Bxf3 22.Qxf3 gives White practical chances) 22.Nd5 Bxd5 23.Bxd5 Rac8 24.Qb3 Qh6! 25.Bxf7+ Kh8, after which Black has the deadly threat of ...Rc1+.

19.Na4 Qc6?!

This lets the white queen's rook be developed with tempo. I suggested 19...Qa7?! in the postmortem, but the engines give 20.f6 Bh6 21.Bf2 with sharp play. Perhaps best is my other suggestion of 19...Qb5, when 20.f6 Bh6 21.Bf2 does not produce a pin.

20.Rc1 Qb5??

The engines reckon Black is still better after 20...Qd6.

21.Rc5 Nxe2

Black is sort-of still in the game after the engines' 21...b3! 22.Rxb5 axb5 23.axb3 bxa4, but they give White a winning advantage.

22.Rxb5 axb5 23.Nb6 Rxa2 24.f6 1-0