I can understand the desire to avoid sameness, and a preference for fresh challenges.
But I enjoy the idea of renewing combat, especially if the colours are the same.
Is it best to stick to what you know, and if so are you ready for whatever improvement the opponent has planned?
Alternatively, should you switch openings entirely, even at the risk of finding yourself on unfamiliar ground?
In round six of the 2014 Olomouc Open I faced a Czech junior (born 1996), František Kamarád.
Kamarád (1747) - Spanton (1976)
King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d5!?
A sharp continuation that has never been popular, and which suffered quite a blow four years before my opponent was born when a 'refutation' was published in Joe Gallagher's Winning With The King's Gambit (Batsford).
4.Nxe5
This was Gallagher's recommendation. There are 41 examples of the move in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database, where it scores 51%, but 51 examples of 4.exd5, which scores 64%. That might appear clearcut, but the sample sizes are small and opinion is divided, not least among engines, with Stockfish16 opting for 4.exd5 while Komodo14.1 likes the text. To complicate matters further, both engines give another move as their top choice, 4.Nc3!?, which scores 44% in Mega23 from an even smaller sample size - just nine games.
4...Nf6!?
This used to be regarded as almost forced, and gets an exclamation mark in Play The King's Gambit - Volume 2: King's Gambit Declined by Yakov Estrin & Igor Glaskov (Pergamon 1982).
5.d4 Bb6
This also gets an exclamation mark in Play The King's Gambit. It is the only continuation in Mega23, but Estrin & Glaskov quote "Jorgenssen - Larsen, Denmark 1953" (I have not been able to track down this game) as running 5...Nxe4?! 6.dxc5 Qh4+ 7.g3 Nxg3, "when White had the chance of gaining a clear advantage by 8.hxg3! Qxg3+ 9.Ke2." Better than 8...Qxg3+? is 8...Qxh1, but the engines reckon 9.Qf3 gives White a winning advantage.
6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Nc3
So far the game has followed an 1865 correspondence match between Vienna and Innsbruck, cited in Play The King's Gambit.
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| How should Black proceed? |
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8...Qd6!?
Estrin & Glaskov recommended 8...Ba5, handing out another exclamation mark, and that was played in all three games in Mega23 to reach the diagrammed position. Gallagher's answer to this was 9.Be2!? (he gives it an exclamation mark but, as I explain below, that may be misplaced). I faced it in a 1993 London League game. Bertrand Barlow (180 ECF) - Spanton (161 ECF) continued 9...Bf5?! 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 with a large advantage to White, according to the engines (1-0, 33 moves). Probably better is the brave 9...Qxg2!?, which Gallagher did not mention but was tried in Neil McDonald (2490) - Wolfgang Pajeken (2270), Wichern (Hamburg) 1997. After 10.Bf3 Qh3 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bxc6+ Kd8 13.Qf3 Qxf3 14.Bxf3 Rb8 15.0-0-0 the engines reckon Black has some, but not enough, compensation for being a pawn down (1-0, 45 moves). So 9.Be2!? seems to be good enough for at least a slight edge, but the engines reckon 9.Bc4!? and 9.a3!? are even stronger.
I cannot recall whether the text, which still does not appear in the Mega database, was computer-assisted preparation, but it is the top choice of Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1.
9.Bb5
My notes show Stockfish5 recommended 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Bc4, a sequence also liked by its descendant, Stockfish16. Komodo14.1 prefers 9.Bd3, meeting both 9...Be6 and 9...0-0 with 10.Nb5. Yet another suggestion, from Fide master Steve Berry, was 9.Nxc6 followed by quick queenside castling, although the engines reckon this favours Black. At any rate four different sources, if you count my opponent, give four different continuations, which shows how unclear the position is.
9...0-0 10.Bxc6!? bxc6 11.0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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White is a pawn up, has more space, enjoys the better pawn-structure and has a well-placed knight at e5, but White's surviving bishop is bad. Black has the bishop-pair and can hope to exploit the central light squares. Komodo14.1 gives White a slight edge, but Stockfish16 calls the position equal.
11...Ba6 12.Rf2 Rad8
Better is the engines' 12...Nd5!, which more-or-less forces 13.Nxd5 (13.Bc1?! Ne7!), after which 13...cxd5 solves Black structural problems.
13.Rd2?!
This is probably too passive. Instead the active 13.a4!? somewhat embarrasses the black dark-square bishop as 13...Bxd4?! 14.Bxd4 Qxd4 15.Qxd4 Rxd4 16.Nc6 brings helpful simplification for White.
13...Ba5 14.Qf3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Nd5 16.Bf2
Not so much preserving the bishop as uncovering protection for c3.
16...f6 17.c4!?
Stockfish5 did not like this, prompting me to give the move a question mark in my notes. However it is the top choice of Stockfish16, although Komodo14.1 prefers 17.Nd3.
As an aside, it is interesting how often a contemporary engine's assessment is overturned by a later engine, and indeed how often modern engines disagree in their assessments. It is because of this that I tend to be cautious in handing out question marks and exclamation points, usually preferring ?! or !? unless I am reasonably sure.
17...fxe5 18.cxd5 Rxf4 19.Qe3 Qxd5 20.Rad1
The engines' 20.Re1!? may be better, meeting 20...Rxd4 with 21.Rxd4 exd4 22.Qa3!?, giving counterplay.
20...Rg4 21.g3 e4
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22.Qa3 Bc4! 23.Qxa7?!
The engines reckon White should prefer 23.Be3.
23...Qg5
Winning is 23...e3! 24.Bxe3 Qe4 25.d5 Bxd5 (the move I missed, according to my notes), when White has to give up the exchange. Even worse is 25.Bf2? as 25...Bd5 leads to mate.
24.d5?!
Probably better is 24.Qa3, although my modern engines do not agree with Stockfish5's verdict that it equalises.
24...cxd5 25.Be3 Qe7
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| Black is a pawn up and has a protected passer, but opposite-coloured bishops and the passed a pawn give White practical chances |
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26.a4 Rg6 27.Ra1 Ra6 28.Qb7 Rda8 29.Rf2 Rf8!? 30.Rxf8+ Qxf8 31.Qxc7 Rxa4?!
This was the 'clever' point behind 29...Rf8!? - White cannot recapture on a4 as ...Qf1 mates. However the engines' 31...Rf6! leaves Black dominant.
32.Rb1 Ra8 33.Bd4 Re8 34.Qa7 Re7
I gave this move two questions marks, an unfair judgment probably based on Stockfish5 assessing 34...h5 as giving the upper hand. Stockfish16 reckons the game is completely equal after 34...h5, although Komodo14.1 gives Black a slight edge.
35.Rb8
Also drawing is 35.Qb8.
35...Rxa7
Not 35...Re8?? 36.Rxe8 Qxe8 37.Qxg7#.
36.Rxf8+ Kxf8 37.Bxa7
FK offered a draw. I played on for five moves, but then conceded the inevitable.
Fast-forward a year and I was paired against the same teenaged opponent at the same tournament, this time in round seven. In the intervening months our ratings had travelled in opposite directions, dramatically in his case.
Kamarád (1886) - Spanton (1950)
King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d5!? 4.Nxe5 dxe4!?
Estrin & Glaskov said this is wrong because of "5.Bc4!", which has been played in 20 of the 29 games to reach the position in Mega23. I will look at it below, because it is what my opponent played, although I do not know if it was a result of preparation.
Gallagher gave 4...dxe4!? a straight question mark, saying 5.Qh5 Qe7 6.Bc4 "is very good for White."
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| Only one Russian game has reached this position in Mega23 |
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Vladimir Pogosian (2203) - Dmitry Melnikov (2303), Chigorin Memorial (St Petersburg) 2004, continued 6...g6 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.Bxf7+ Kf8 9.b4!? Bd4, after which 10.c3 would have given White at least the upper hand, according to the engines, eg 10...Bxe5 11.fxe5 Kxf7 12.exf6 Qd6 13.0-0.
5.Bc4 Nh6
I have a printout of an article* by Thomas Johansson, author of two books on the King's Gambit, in which he looks at 3...d5!? in some detail.
He gives 5.Qh5 an exclamation mark, but calls 5.Bc4 dubious, recommending "5...Nc6!" There is just one game in Mega23 with this move, Petr Weiss (1845) - Spanton (2030), Brno (Czechia) 2010, which continued 6.Bxf7+ Kf8 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bxg8 Kxg8 9.Qh5 Bb6 10.Qe5?! Bg4 11.Nc3? Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 13.b3? Qg2 0-1.
Johansson instead quotes a 1999 correspondence game that went 6.Nxf7 Qh4+ 7.g3 Qh3 8.Bf1!? Qf5 9.Nxh8 Be6, after which White is, at least temporarily, a rook and pawn up, but Black has a dangerous attack that in the game quickly won.
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| After 5...Nh6, how should White proceed? |
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6.Nxf7?
Much better is 6.Qh5, when five games in Mega23 have seen 6...0-0 7.Nxf7 Bf2+!? White has to continue 8.Kxf2 (two players did not, and lost trivially), after which 8...Qd4+ 9.Kf1 Nxf7 gives Black sufficient compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.
6...Qd4 7.Qe2 Bg4!?
The simple 7...Nxf7 also wins.
8.Qf1?
Better is 8.c3 Bxe2 9.cxd4 Bxc4, although the engines reckon Black has a positionally won game.
8...Nxf7 9.c3 Qd6 10.b4 Bb6 11.a4 a6 12.Ba3 0-0!? 0-1
*It may have been on a long-defunct blog - I can no longer find it on the internet.
*It may have been on a long-defunct blog - I can no longer find it on the internet.
Hi Tim,If black wants to avoid a complicated game is maybe 2...Nf6 an idea.3.f4xe5 Nf6xe4.4Nf3 Ng5 5.d4 Nxf3 6 Qxf3 Qh4.7Qf2 Qxf2 8.Kxf2 d6. or 8...Nc6. Its as always a matter of taste
ReplyDeleteBut the winning chances for black are less I think
So you better can play your opening.
Good luck in Olomouc!
I play from 5 to 13 september in Altenkirchen
with regards Stef
I have never played 2...Nf6 - indeed I was only vaguely aware it was possible. It certainly looks interesting, and could be a useful fallback move if I ever feel I cannot play 2...Bc5 and 3...d5!? I suspect 2...Nf6 would have decent surprise value, at least until word got around.
ReplyDeletethere is a game between fischer and wade in 1968
Deletethere u can see how it can go.but the problem for wade is of course fischer
I see Wade had played ...Nf6 before. I guess Fischer didn't rate it. But a quick look with engines suggests Wade was doing pretty good, or at least not badly, until his 30th move.
DeleteI see,better take on g3 I guess, Found a game of my self from 98 wich my opponent where so kind to recapture on move 6 with de g pawn instead with the Queen.that was an easy game after that.
ReplyDelete6...gxf3? is unwise! I see you won in 17 moves ...
Delete