Spanton (1886) - Willi Roth (1780)
Petrov
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe4 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3!?
There are 3,517 examples of this move in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, including by Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov.
5...Nf6 6.d4 Bg4
With 6...d5 Black transposes to a position normally reached via the Exchange Variation of the French.
7.h3 Bh5 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.c3 Qe7+ 10.Be3 Nd5 11.Qe2 Nxe3 12.fxe3
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| How would you assess this imbalanced opening position? |
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Black has acquired the bishop-pair, but the manoeuvre has cost time and has strengthened White's centre. Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 agree White has an edge.
12...Bxf3?!
This, for a while, is Stockfish16's second choice, but giving up the bishop-pair unprovoked is strange. The engines prefer 12...0-0-0.
13.Qxf3 Qh4+!? 14.g3 Qg5 15.h4 Qe7
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| The positive result of Black's queen-play is it makes kingside castling riskier for White, but more significant is that the position is similar to after 13.Qxf3, but with White to move rather than Black |
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16.Bb5 Kd8?
Much better is castling, after which Black is two moves away from connecting rooks. In the game Black does eventually connect rooks, but at an inopportune time.
17.Nd2 a6!?
The engines are OK with this, which only shows how bad Black's position is.
18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Qxc6! Qxe3+?
Much better is 19...Rb8, but after 20.0-0-0 White is well on top.
20.Kd1 Qxg3
The black queen's rook cannot be saved without losing the queen to Re1.
21.Re1!?
This is plenty good enough, but even stronger is the obvious 21.Qxa8+ Kd7, and then 22.Re1.
The game finished:
21...Qg4+ 22.Kc1 Be7 23.Qxa8+ Kd7 24.Qxh8 Qxh4 25.Kc2 Qh6 26.Rxe7+! Kxe7 27.Re1+ 1-0
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