European Senior Team (65+) Round Six

Spanton (England 3 - 1800) - Zbiginiew Daleczko (Lower Silesia 2 - 1672)

Sicilian Accelerated Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nxc6!? bxc6 7.Bc4 e6!?

For 7...Qa5!?, which is Komodo14.1's top choice, at least for a while, see my round-three game. Stockfish16 likes 7...Qc7!?, which Komodo14.1 also likes, and 7...d6, which is the most popular move in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database. The text is second-most popular.

8.0-0 d5?!

Consistent, but almost certainly bad. The mainline in Mega23 runs 8...Ne7 9.Bg5?! 0-0?! 10.Qd6, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The engines reckon Black is at least equal after 9...h6 or 9...d5, but they also reckon 9.Qd6 is a major improvement for White, which only goes to show there is a lot to be discovered in the 6.Nxc6!? variation.

9.exd5 cxd5

How should White proceed?

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10.Nxd5!

Black is at least slightly better, according to the engines, after other moves, eg commonest in Mega23 is 10.Bb5+, but 10...Bd7 is simple and good.

After 10.Nxd5!, how should Black respond?

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10...Rb8

Black more-or-less has to accept the loss of a pawn as 10...exd5 11.Bxd5 Rb8? 12.Bxf7+ Ke7 13.Re1+ Be6 14.Qf3 (14.Bg5+ is one of several other winning moves) is catastrophic. An improvement is 11...Be6, but then 12.Bc6+ Kf8 (or 12...Ke7!? 13.Be3!) 13.Bxa8 Qxa8 14.Qd6+  is strong. Best, according to the engines, is 10...Bb7, but they reckon White is winning after both 11.Re1 and 11.Nb4.

11.Re1 Kf8

Again the engines reckon ...Bb7 is better.

12.Ne3

Even stronger seems to be 12.b3!? I tried to make it work but missed that after 12...Bxa1 13.Ba3+ Kg7 White has 14.Qxa1+, when White has a pawn, the bishop-pair and a continuing attack for the exchange.

12...Qc7

Black cannot win the pawn back as after 12...Qxd1 13.Rxd1 Bxb2? comes 14.Rb1 Be5 15.Rxb8+ Bxb8 16.Rd8+ etc.

13.Rb1 Bc3??

Played with a (misplaced) flourish. Black should probably just get on with development, but has no compensation for being a pawn down and facing a 3-1 queenside pawn-majority.

14.bxc3 Rxb1 15.Ba3+ 1-0

FULL TEAM RESULT

England 3 v Lower Silesia 2
Richard Freeman (1987) 1-0 Ryszard Grossmann (1904)
David Tucker (1898) = Andrzej Stadnicki (1648)
Tim Spanton (1800) 1-0 Zbigniew Daleczko (1672)
Robert Kane (1723) = Władysław Daleczko (1519)

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