Spanton (1959) - Hugo Bassa (1704)
Veresov
1.Nc3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Bf5
More popular are 3...e6 and especially 3...Nbd7, but taking the chance to develop the light-square bishop outside the pawn-chain makes a lot of sense. Nevertheless Black's 48% score in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database with the text is two percentage points lower than with 3...Nbd7, albeit eight percentage points higher than with 3...e6.
4.e3
The mainline in Mega23 runs 4.f3 Nbd7 5.Nxd5!? Nxd5 6.e4 h6!? 7.Bh4 Ne3!? 8.Qd3 Nxf1 9.exf5 Nxh2 10.Rxh2 with the upper hand for White, according to Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1. However the engines reckon Black at least equalises with the little-played 7...N7f6!?
4...e6 5.Bd3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 Be7 8.Ne5?!
Perhaps 8.Re1 is better. The problem with the text is that after ...
8...Nxe5 9.dxe5 Nd7
... White has nothing better than:
10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.f4
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| White has more kingside space, but an awkward pawn-structure - the engines reckon Black is slightly better |
*****
*****
*****
*****
11...Bxd3?!
But this apparent-novelty improves the white structure and allows White a useful half-open c file.
12.cxd3 f5?! 13.exf6?!
White has the upper hand after 13.Nb5.
13...Nxf6 14.Qf3 0-0-0 15.Rac1 Kb8 16.Rf2?!
This is probably too slow, allowing Black a central initiative. The engines suggest 16.d4.
16...e5 17.Rfc2 Rhe8 18.d4 exf4 19.exf4 Qe3+ 20.Qxe3 Rxe3 21.Re2 Rxe2 22.Nxe2 Re8 23.Rc2 c6 24.h3 h5 25.Kf2 Kc7 26.Kf3 h4!?
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| White's kingside majority cannot easily be mobilised, but the black h pawn may prove a weakness |
*****
*****
*****
*****
27.Nc3 Kd6 28.Re2 Rxe2 29.Nxe2 c5 30.Ke3 cxd4+?
The game is completely equal after 50...Ne4 or 50...Nh5, according to the engines.
31.Nxd4 Kc5!?
This allows ...Ne6+, but leaving the king on d6 allows ...Nf5+ (and the inferior ...Nb5+).
32.Ne6+ Kc4 33.b3+??
This turns a probable win into a definite loss. Correct is 33.Nxg7, eg 33...d4+ 34.Kd2 Ne4+ 35.Kd1 etc.
33...Kc3 34.f5 b6 35.Nd4 a5 36.Ne6?!
Not much of an improvement is 36.Nb5+ Kb2.
36...Kb2 37.Nxg7 Kxa2 38.Ne6 Kxb3 39.Kd4 a4 40.Nc7 a3 41.Nxd5 a2 42.Ke5 a1=Q+ 43.Ke6 Nxd5 0-1
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