County Chess

PLAYED on board eight (of 16) for Kent at Middlesex in the Southern Counties U2050 championship yesterday.

Xavier Cowan (1931) - Spanton (1884)

QGD Normal Position

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5 5.e3!?

Today the commonest continuation is 5.cxd5, but the text, which goes back to at least 1843, used to be the mainline and is more sophisticated than its reputation might imply.

5...Nc6 6.a3 a6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4 Ba7 9.Bb2

This position occurs 617 times in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database

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9...d4?!

This has been played by international masters and at least one grandmaster, but is almost certainly premature. The mainline in Mega24 runs 9...0-0 10.Qc2 Qe7 11.Rd1 Rd8 12.Be2 dxc4 (12...d4 is also quite popular) 13.Rxd8+ Nxd8!? 14.Bxc4 b5, with an equal position, according to Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1.

10.exd4 Nxd4 11.Nxd4

The engines reckon 11.c5!? gives White a positionally won game.

11...Qxd4!?

This seems to be a novelty. The engines prefer the known move 11...Bxd4.

12.c5!? Qg4?

The engines reckon this is a serious mistake, much preferring 12...Qxd1+.

13.Qxg4 Nxg4 14.Ne4 0-0 15.h3 Nh6 16.Nd6

The white knight has a commanding outpost, and meanwhile Black has problems coordinating pieces

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16...Nf5!? 17.Nxc8!?

Grabbing the bishop-pair on such an open board is almost certainly better than damaging Black's pawn-majority.

17...Raxc8 18.Bd3 Rfd8 19.Rd1 Ne7 20.0-0 Re8?

I picked up the rook intending to play 20...Rd7?, remembering in time White has Bxh7+! Having touched the rook, there is no better square than e8, but Black is losing. After the superior 20...Nd5 White 'only' has the upper hand, according to the engines.
21.Be4 Nc6?

Immediately giving up a pawn with 21...Nd5! is better.

22.Rd7 Bb8 23.Rxb7 Red8 24.Rb6 Nd4 25.Bxd4 Rxd4 26.Bb7 Rcd8 27.Rxa6 Rd1!?

Black's only hope is for a blunder - even an opposite-coloured bishop opening would almost certainly be lost.

28.g3 Be5 29.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 30.Kg2 Kf8 31.Ra8+ Ke7 32.Bc6 Rd2 33.Ra7+ Kf6 34.Be8 Bd4 35.Rxf7+ Ke5 36.Bc6 Rd3? 37.f4#
Middlesex won the match 9-7.