World Senior Teams Round Eight

Magnus Eriksson (Sweden - 1975) - Spanton (England 2 - 1850)

Board Three

Chigorin

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c4 Bg4 4.Nc3

The main move is 4.cxd5, but the text and 4.e3 are also popular.

4...e6 5.Bg5!?

Again cxd5 is the commonest continuation, but the text is also reasonably popular and is quite liked by Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1

5...Be7 6.Bxe7 Ngxe7 7.e3 0-0 8.Be2 a6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Rc1 Re8

This may be a novelty. All three games to reach the position in ChessBase's 2023 Mega database saw 10...Qd6.

11.h3 Bh5 12.0-0

With both sides castled, how would you assess the position?

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The pawn-structure will be familiar to anyone who plays either colour in the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, only the placing of the black knights being a little out of the ordinary. The engines give White a slight edge.

12...Qd6 13.Na4 b6 14.Re1 Ra7

This was probably a good time to reroute the black queen's knight, with the engines suggesting 14...Nd8 followed, fairly quickly, by ...Ne6.

15.Nc3 h6 16.Qa4 Raa8 17.Nb1 Bg6 18.Nbd2 Bf5 19.a3 Bd7 20.Qc2 Bf5 21.Qc3 a5?

Preventing a Minority Attack, but giving White the b5 square. The engines prefer 21...Rec8.
22.Bb5 Bd7 23.Ne5

White wins a pawn.

23...Nxe5 24.dxe5 Qe6 25.Bxd7 Qxd7 26.Qxc7 Qb5

Black has a little activity, but it is not enough for a pawn, even though the extra pawn is doubled (and anyway Black has an isolani)

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27.Qc2 Rac8 28.Qb3 Qxb3 29.Nxb3 g5!? 30.Nd4 Ng6 31.Nf5 Rxc1

Not 31...Nxe5?? 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Ne7+ and 32.Nxc8.

32.Rxc1 Nxe5 33.Nxh6+ Kg7 34.Nf5+ Kg6 35.g4!? Rh8?

A waste of time as the white king is better on g2 than on g1.

36.Kg2 Rd8 37.b3 Ke6 38.Rd1 Rd7

Even worse is 38...Rc8 39.Ng7+ Kf6 40.Rxd5!

39.Rc1 Rd8 40.Rc7 Kf6 41.f4 Nd7?

A mistake, but Black's position is anyway close to resignable even at club level.

42.Rc6#

FULL TEAM RESULT (Sweden had white on odd boards)
Per Söderberg (2135) 0-1 John M Quinn (2077)
Matts Unander (2004) ½–½ Brian Valentine (1907)
Magnus Eriksson (1975) 1-0 Tim Spanton (1850)
Bengt Wihlborn (1791) 0-1 Stewart Reuben (1912)
England 2 won 2.5-1.5.