It began 1.e4 c5 2.c3 g6!? (Black is effectively playing a Hyper-Accelerated Dragon) 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5.
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| White has a slight advantage, according to Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1 |
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Despite the engines' optimism about the white position, the two main continuations in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database, 5.e5 and 5.exd5, score disappointingly - 46% and 47%, respectively.
My game saw 5.Nc3!?, which scores an almost-as-poor 48%.
After the virtually forced reply 5...dxe4, my opponent played 6.Nxe4, when Stockfish15.1 reckons Black already has a slight edge, although Komodo14.1 calls the game equal.
Black is posed more problems by 6.Bc4!?
Black's difficulties were starkly illustrated in David Howell (2334) - Spanton (2004), Isle of Man 2004, which continued 6...Nf6 7.Qb3 e6 8.d5 exd5 9.Nxd5 Nxd5 10.Bxd5 Bb4+?? 11.Qxb4 Qxd5 12.Qc3 1-0.
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| Position after 12.Qc3 - Black cannot avoid losing significant material, eg 12...0-0 is met by 13.Bh6 |
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Two years later, again at the Isle of Man, I faced the same line in Ian Marks (1944) - Spanton (2075), which varied with 10...Qe7.
The game continued 11.Bd2!? (IM said afterwards he reckoned this is better than 11.Qc3, although fast-forward 17 years and my main engines both prefer the latter) Nc6 (the engines much-prefer 11...Nd7!?) 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.Qc3 e3! (everything else loses on the spot) 14.Qxc6+ Qd7 15.Qxd7+ Bxd7 16.Bxe3 Bb4+ 17.Bd2 Bxd2+ 18.Kxd2 0-0-0.
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| Black has full compensation for a pawn, according to the engines, and went on to win |
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Seven years later, at Guernsey, I tried playing the white side in Spanton (2030) - Ad Reijneveld (2135), varying with 11.Qc3.
The game continued 11...Qb4 12.Bd2 Qxc3 13.Bxc3 Rg8, at which point I played the probable-novelty 14.0-0-0!?
After 14...Nc6 15.Bxe4 Be6 16.Nf3 Be7 17.Kb1 Rd8 18.Rxd8+ Kxd8 19.Rd1+ Kc8 20.Nd4 Nxd4 21.Rxd4 Rd8 a draw was agreed.
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| The position is completely equal, according to the engines |
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In 2019, again at Guernsey, the game Ton Goris (1913) - Reijneveld (2056) varied with 14.Bxe4.
The game continued 14...Nc6 15.Nf3 Bg7 16.Rc1 Bd7 17.0-0 Bxc3 18.Rxc3, at which point the engines reckon 18...Ke7!? equalises.
Instead the game saw 18...Kf8?! 19.Rd1 Be8, after which White has a large lead in development (1-0, 33 moves).
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| The somewhat picturesque final position of Goris - Reijneveld |
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LESSON: a little experience goes a long way in sharp positions, but once (club) players are on their own resources, anything can happen. I do not know how much of this analysis I would have remembered if my opponent at Fagernes had played 6.Bc4!?, but my (admittedly limited) familiarity with the position after 5...dxe4 meant I was reasonably confident, however he had continued.
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