New London
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 Bd6 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Ne4!?
There are 541 examples of this move in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database, but the main moves are 5...c5 and especially 5...0-0.
6.Bd3 b6 7.c3 Bb7
Not 7...Ba6?? 8.Bxa6 Nxa6 9.Qa4+ etc.
8.Nbd2 Nd7 9.Qc2 Nxd2!?
This may be a novelty. Yi Wei (2707) - Ahmed Adly (2599), World Blitz Championship (Doha, Qatar) 2016, went 9...f5 10.c4 0-0 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Rc1 Nxg3?! 13.hxg3 with possibly a slight edge for White, according to Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1 (1-0, 45 moves).
10.Qxd2 Nf6 11.Ne5 Ne4 12.Qe2 0-0!?
Komodo14.1 is OK with this move, but perhaps Black should wait for White to castle before deciding where the black king belongs.
13.f3 Nxg3?!
Half-opening the h file after castling short is very dangerous. The engines prefer 13...Nf6, or 13...Bxe5 followed by dropping the black knight back to c5 or d6, depending on how White recaptures.
14.hxg3 h6
Perhaps 14...g6!? is better, but the engines give White a large advantage.
15.f4 Bxe5 16.dxe5 c5
Hoping to open lines in the centre. The engines suggest giving up a pawn by 16...g6!? 17.Rxh6 Kg7, but White is well on top.
17.g4
The engines reckon Black has a positionally won game after 17.0-0-0.
17...f6?!
Consistent is 17...d4, and if 18.g5 then 18...dxc3, meeting 19.gxh6 with 19...g6. However the engines reckon 18.exd4 and 18.Rd1 are good for White.
18.exf6 Qxf6 19.g5?!
Probably better are 19.0-0-0 and 19.Rh5.
19...hxg6 20.Qh5?!
Again castling long is probably better. The problem with the text is that after ...
20...Qh6
... queens are coming off and White no longer has a mating attack.
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| How should White proceed? |
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21.fxg5
Better, according to the engines, is 21.Qxh6!? gxh6 22.Rxh6 gxf4 23.Ke2 c4 24.Bc2 fxe3 25.Kxe3 Rf7 (25...Rae8?? 26.Rah1 etc) 26.Rxe6 with what the engines reckon is a slight edge for White.
21...Qxh5 22.Rxh5 Kf7 23.g6+ Ke7 24.Rh7 Rg8 25.Ke2
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| With both kings off the back rank, how would you assess the position? |
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The black king's rook is passive and the bishop is bad, but these are temporary conditions. More important is the inferior white pawn-structure and the vulnerability of g6. The engines give Black a slight edge.
25...Raf8 26.Rf1 Rxf1 27.Kxf1 Bc6 28.g4 Kf6 29.Rh5 Be8 30.g5+ Ke7 31.Ke2 e5 32.Bf5 e4 33.Rh7 Kd6 34.Rh1 Ke5 35.Bg4 Bxg6
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| Black is a sound pawn up and has more central space |
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36.a3 Kd6 37.Ke1 Re8 38.Be2 Re5 39.Be2 Re5 40.Bd1 Be8 41.Be2 Ke7 42.Bd1 Kf8 43.Be2 Bf7 44.Rg3 Bd8 45.g6 Be8 46.Ba6 Rf6?!
The engines much prefer 46...Kf8 (Stockfish15.1) or 46...c4!? (Komodo14.1).
47.Bb7 Rf5 48.c4 dxc4 49.Bxe4 Re5 50.Bb7
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| Black's pawn-structure has been compromised, but Black remains a pawn up and can expect to win the g6 pawn |
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50...Bd7 51.Kd2 Kf8 52.e4!? Ke7 53.Ke3 Kf6 54.Kf4 Rh5 55.Bd5 Be6 56.Bc6?!
The rook-and-pawn ending probably offers a little more hope.
56...Rh2 57.e5+ Ke7 58.Rg5 Bxb2 59.Rh5 Rf2+ 60.Ke4 Rf8 61.Rh7 Bf5+ 62.Kd5 Rg8 63.Kxc4 Bxg6 64.Rh1 Rd8 65.Rh3 Rd4+ 66.Kc3 Be8 67.Bb7 Ra4 68.Kb2 Bf7 69.Rh7 Rg4 70.Bc8 Be6 71.Bb7 Rg5 72.Kc3 Kf7 0-1
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