HERE is a pleasing memory from my early participation at Olomouc, and it is a game with some instructive features.
Olomouc Open 2010
French 3.Bd3
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3!?
Any move that has been played by four world champions (Lasker, Capablanca, Kramnik and Carlsen) must have something going for it.
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| How should Black respond? |
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3...Nc6!?
Easily most popular is 3...dxe4 4.Bxe4 Nf6, when the mainline in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database runs 5.Bf3 c5 6.Ne2 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Ne5!? with an equal position, according to Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1.
Also popular is 3...c5, when play usually goes 4.exd5 exd5, reaching a position often arising from the Exchange Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 c5, which is why there are 3,349 examples of the position in Mega23.
Finally, many blacks like 3...Nf6!?, although the engines reckon it is an error. Their mainline runs 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Ne2!? (they also like 5.c3) c5 6.c3, presumably liking White's space advantage and easy development, but it is a position that I suspect most French Defence players would regard as perfectly playable.
4.Ne2!? Nb4!?
4.Ne2!? Nb4!?
Winning the bishop-pair, but the manoeuvre costs time.
5.0-0 Nxd3 6.Qxd3
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| Was Black's manoeuvre worth it? |
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The knight spent a tempo going from c6 to b4, and a second one capturing on d3. White used those two tempi to castle and to recapture with a developing move, so Black gained the bishop-pair but White gained two tempi.
Which is more important?
Massive database analysis by computer has shown the bishop-pair to be worth, on average, half a pawn, so the question becomes: how much is half a pawn worth in terms of time?
According to American long-time coach Dan Heisman: "At the very start of the game a tempo is worth roughly a third of a pawn."
That would make the manoeuvre in this game slightly favourable to White.
As always, there are complicating factors, eg were the two tempi White gained usefully employed?
Castling can hardly be faulted, and developing the queen to d3 looks vaguely useful - at first glance the queen is unlikely to be harassed by Black's pieces any time soon (but more on this later).
Engine expert Larry Kaufman, co-winner of the 2008 world seniors championship, emphasises that the half-pawn value of the bishop-pair is an average value.
"The bishop-pair is worth less than half a pawn when most or all the pawns are on the board," he explains, "and more than half a pawn when half or more of the pawns are gone."
"The bishop-pair is worth less than half a pawn when most or all the pawns are on the board," he explains, "and more than half a pawn when half or more of the pawns are gone."
On that basis the manoeuvre in this game is less worth it.
However it is not just static factors that should be taken into account - dynamic ones are often more important, and here Black has the follow-up sequence ...
6...dxe4 7.Qxe4 Nf6
... ensuring the centre will not be closed, opening lines for the bishops and developing with tempo.
8.Qf3 Qd5
A later game, Cemil Ali Marandi (2479) - Stanislav Bogdanovich (2596), European Chess Championship (Minsk, Belarus) 2017, went 8...Be7 9.Nbc3 0-0 10.Re1 Rb8 with an equal game, according to the engines (but 1-0, 30 moves).
9.Qxd5 Nxd5!? 10.Nf4 bd6 11.Nxd5 exd5 12.Re1+ Be6 13.Nc3 c6 14.Ne2!?
This is the engines' top choice.
14...0-0-0 15.Bf4 Be7
It is almost certainly correct to spend a tempo here to preserve the bishop-pair.
16.Ng3 Kd7!? 17.Re2 Rde8 18.Rae1 g5!?
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| What should White play? |
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19.Bd2
The engines slightly prefer 19.Be5!?, meeting 19...f6 with 20.Bb8 and 21.Bxa7, which wins a pawn, but Black has full compensation, according to the engines, which shows how much they value the bishops in this position.
19...h5 20.a3 h4 21.Nf1 b6 22.Ne3 f5!?
This gains more space but weakens e6, allowing White to get rid of the bishop-pair. The engines reckon moves such as 22...g4 and 22...Bd6 keep an edge.
23.Nc4! dxc4
More-or-less forced as allowing Ne5+ is worse.
24.Rxe6 Bd8 25.Rxe8 Rxe8 26.Rxe8 Kxe8
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| How would you assess this ending? |
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White has the better queenside structure, but Black's extra space makes it easier to get the black king into play. The engines reckon the position is equal.
27.h3 g4 28.hxg4?
I expected 28.f3. The engines reckon 28.Kf1 is also fine. The problem with the text is that after ...
28...fxg4
... White has to take into account Black's possibility of creating a passed h pawn.
29.Kh2 Bc7+ 30.g3?!
It was probably better to withdraw the king, but Black would have good winning chances.
30...Kf7 31.Bg5 hxg3+!?
This seems the simpler way to win.
32.fxg3 Ke6 33.Kg2 Kf5 34.Be3 Ke4 35.Bg1 Bd8 36.Kf2!? Bg5!?
This appears even stronger than taking on d4.
37.Ke2 Bc1 38.b4 cxb3 39.cxb3 Bxa3 0-1
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