IT was in the last round of the 2014 Olomouc open that I first played Jiří Navrátil (the one born in 1966, that is - Fide has three other players with the same name).
Spanton (1976) - Navrátil (2087)
Veresov/Liberated Bishop
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Bf5 3.Bg4!?
With the black light-square bishop on f5, it probably makes sense to go after it with 3.f3, or go for a Jobava-Prié setup with 3.Bf4.
3...c6!?
This is the most popular move in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database, with 134 examples, ahead of the 116 examples of 3...h6. Perhaps surprisingly there are only 25 games with 3...f6.
4.e3 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 Bg6 7.0-0
Kurt Richter, after whom the Veresov Opening is often also named, played 7.Qe2 in a game at the 1930 Olympiad.. But if he was thinking of castling long, he thought better of it after 7...Qb6, preferring 8.Rb1 Bh5 9.0-0.
7...e6 8.Ne5 Be7
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| How should White proceed? |
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9.Nxg6!?
White gains the bishop-pair, but castling kingside and then half-opening the h file for the black king's rook is risky.
9...hxg6 10.Bf4!?
Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 do not like this, although they do not agree on what White should play.
10...Nb6 11.a4 Bd6 12.Qf3 Qc7 13.Rfe1 a5 14.Ne2 0-0-0!?
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| Now the players have castled on opposite sides, how would you assess the middlegame? |
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Neither king is immediately endangered, but neither is completely safe. Meanwhile White's bishop-pair is unlikely to be a factor, and is unlikely to exist much longer. The engines reckon the position is equal.
15.c3 g5 16.Bxd6 Qxd6 17.Qg3 Qxg3 ½–½
A strange time for a higher-rated player to be offering a draw, but perhaps it had something to do with this being the last round.
Two years later we again met in the Olomouc open, this time in the fifth round.
Spanton (1923) - Navrátil (2056)
Caro-Kann Classical
1.d4 d5 2.Nc3
Presumably I was satisfied with how the opening went in our previous game, but now JN varies.
2...c6!? 3.e4
I am fairly sure I knew my opponent normally met 1.e4 by playing the Sicilian, so it seemed sensible to switch to an e-pawn opening, namely the Caro-Kann, with which he might well be unfamiliar.
3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5
JN offered a draw, perhaps confirming my hope he was on unfamiliar ground.
5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 e6!?
The main continuation is 6...Nd7, but the text is also popular.
7.Ne5 Nd7 8.Nxg6
Winning the bishop-pair, much as in our previous encounter, but with a big difference - I have not castled.
8...hxg6 9.Bd3 Ngf6 10.c3 Qc7 11.Qf3 Bd6 12.Bg5
My notes show a game on an adjacent board reached the same position, but continued 12.h3.
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| What should Black play? |
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12...Nh5!?
12...Nh5!?
The engines strongly dislike this, preferring 12...c5, 12...Qb6 or 12...e5!?
13.Ne4 Be7!? 14.Bxe7 Kxe7 15.g3
More-or-less ensuring the black king's knight will have to spend a tempo going back to f6.
15...Qa5!? 16.h4 Qd5 17.0-0-0!?
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| Can Black safely grab the a2 pawn? |
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17...Nhf6
This is the engines' second choice, behind 17...Qxa2!?, although after the latter is executed on the screen their evaluations fluctuate quite a bit. One line runs 18.Ng5 Nhf6 19.Rhe1 Rhe8 20.Kc2 Kf8 21.Ne4, when White has full compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.
18.Rhe1!?
Renewing the offer, but the engines reckon White is at least slightly better after 18.Kb1.
18...Nxe4
The engines again prefer immediately capturing the a2 pawn.
19.Bxe4 Qxa2 20.d5!? cxd5 21.Bxd5
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| The engines reckon Black has only one good continuation |
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21...Qa5?
This is the worst of the four plausible queen moves, according to the engines. They give 21...Qa1+ 22.Kc2 Qa4+ 23.Kb1, after which they reckon White has a slight edge.
22.Bxb7
Missing 22.Bxe6!! fxe6 23.Rxd7+! Kxd7 24.Qcb7+ with a winning attack, eg 24...Kd6 25.Rd1+ Ke5 26.Qxg7+ Kf5 27.g4+ Kf4 28.Qd4+ Kf3 29.Qd3+ Kxg4 30.Rg1+ Kf4 31.Qd4+ Kf5 32.Rg5#.
22...Rad8 23.Qg4?
The engines reckon White may be slightly better after 23.Qc6.
23...Ne5?
Black is much better after 23...Rb8 as, if the bishop moves, Black has 24...Qa1+ followed by capturing on b2. If 24.Qf3, then 24...Nc5 wins. Perhaps best is the engines' 24.Qd4!? Rxb7 25.Rxe6+ fxe6 26.Qxg7+ Ke8! 27.Qxh8+, but after 27...Nf8 White does not have enough for a knight.
24.Qd4 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Rd8 26.Rxd8 Kxd8 27.Qd4+ Ke7 28.f4 Nd7 29.Bc6 Nf6
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| How would you assess this ending? |
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It is fairly well-known that queen and knight often make a better partnership than queen and bishop, but here the most important factor may be that neither king is very safe. Meanwhile White has a protected passed pawn, although it is unlikely to move far, if at all, while queens remain on the board. The engines reckon the position is equal.
30.g4!? Qb6!?
Both the text and 30...Nxg4 31.Qd7+ Kf6 32.Qd4+ are completely equal, according to the engines.
31.Qxb6 axb6
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| Is the position really still completely equal? |
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It seems so, or at least the engines reckon it is. Ture, White no longer has a passed pawn, but rival pawn-majorities nearly always favour a bishop over a knight, and I cannot see why that is not the case here.
32.Bf3 Kd6 33.Kd2 Nd5!?
This is Stockfish16's top choice. Komodo14.1 at first condemns the move, but comes to agree the position remains completely equal.
34.Bxd5 Kxd5
Komodo14.1 prefers 34...exd5!?, but Stockfish16 reckons both moves keep the game level.
35.Kd3 e5 36.c4+ Kd6 37.fxe5+ Kxe5 38.b4
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| Black to play and draw |
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38...f6?
38...f6?
It seems Black had four drawing moves: 38...f5, 38...Ke6, 38...Kd6 and 38...Kf6. I expected 38...f5, eg 39.gxf5 gxf5, after which the two pawn-majorities cancel out each other.
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| White to play and win |
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39.Ke3
It is that simple.
39...Ke6
After 39...f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 White wins with 41.h5!, eg 41...f4+ 42.Kf3 Kd4 43.Kxf4 Kxc4 44.Kg5 Kxb4 45.Kg6 Ka3 46.Kxg7 b5 47.h6, after which White gets a winning queen-v-pawn ending.
40.Kf4 Kd6 41.h5 f5
Or 41...gxh5 42.gxh5 Ke6 43.c5 etc.
42.hxg6 fxg4 43.Kxg4 Ke5 44.c5 bxc5 45.bxc5 1-0
The following year we met in round five of another CzechTour event, the Highlands Open in Třebíč, but with colours reversed..
Navrátil (2013) - Spanton (1858)
London System
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3!?
This may simply have been to get me out of book, but it has been played by grandmasters - indeed there are 1,123 examples of the move in Mega23.
3...Nc6!?
This scores just 28% in Mega23.
4.Bf4 Bd6 5.e3!?
This is the engines' top choice.
5...Nf6
The game has transposed to a position occurring 224 times in Mega23.
6.Nbd2 Nh5!?
This was probably a novelty, and apparently has not been repeated since - at least this game is the only example in Mega23.
7.g3!? Nxf4 8.exf4!? Qe7 9.Bd3 f6 10.Qe2 e5 11.fxe5 fxe5 12.Bb5?!
White should probably continue exchanging on e5.
12...e4 13.Nh4 0-0 14.0-0-0!?
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Positions with opposite-side castling are nearly always hard to judge as so much can hinge on a tempo gained or lost, but perhaps the most important factor is coming up with the right plan and executing it correctly. For what it is worth, the engines reckon Black is much better.
14...a6 15.Bxc6?!
Now Black gets a half-open file to White's king. The engines prefer 15.Ba4.
15...bxc6 16.Ng2
After making this move, JN pressed his clock and offered a draw.
16...a5 17.Ne1 Ba6 18.Qe3 Rab8 19.f3?
This allows a quick finish, but the engines reckon White is positionally lost anyway.
19...Ba3! 20.Nb1
Or 20.Nb3 a4 etc.
20...Rxb2!? 21.Nxa3 Qxa3 0-1
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