Spanish Berlin
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Rd1+!?
One of the points of this move, which is the top scorer, at 59%, of those moves appearing more than 100 times in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, is to prevent Black playing systems in which the black king goes to the queenside.
9...Ke8
If 9...Bd7!?, trying to keep open the option of ...Kc8, then 10.Ng5 Nh6 leaves White with several enticing options, including 11.e6 fxe6 12.Nxe6+ Kc8 13.Nxf8 Rxf8 14.Bxh6.
10.Bg5!?
The mainline in Mega24 runs 10.Nc3 Ne7!? 11.h3 Ng6 12.b3 Be7 13.Bb2, with an equal position according to Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1.
10...Be7
The commonest continuation is 10...Be6.
11.Nc3
 |
| Mega24 shows Russia's Dmitry Goltsev had this position five times as White in online blitz games in 2022-3, scoring +4=1-0, performing 222 elo above his average rating in those games of 2241 |
*****
*****
*****
*****
11...h6 12.Bxe7 Nxe7
Not 12...Kxe7?? 13.g4.
13.h3 Ng6 14.Rd2 Ke7 15.Re1
This may be a novelty. Magesh Chandran Panchanathan (2419) - J Deepan Chakkravarthy (2379), World U20 Championship (Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan) 2003, went 15.Rad1 Be6 16.Nd4 Rad8 17.b3 a6 18.Nce2 c5 19.Nxe6 Rxd2 20.Rxd2 fxe6 21.f4, with what the engines reckon is an equal position (½–½, 52 moves).
15...Be6 16.b3 Rad8 17.Na4?!
Black gets an initiative after this. The engines suggest 17.Rxd8, 17.Rd4 or 17.Rde2.
17...Rxd2 18.Nxd2 Rd8 19.Nf3 Bf5 20.c4 b6 21.Kh2 a6!?
This may be a bit slow. More to the point would seem to be 21...Nf4, and the engines' 21...Bc8!?
22.g4 Be6
The engines reckon 22...Bc2!? is enough for a slight edge.
23.Re3 h5 24.Kg3 Rh8 25.Nd4 hxg4
White is at least slightly better after 25...h4+?!, according to the engines.
26.hxg4 c5?!
I rejected 26...Bxg4! because after 27.Nxc6+ Kd7 I somehow thought 28.Nb8+ was good for White.
27.Nf3 ½–½
I was worried about 27.Nf5+, but the engines reckon 27...Kf8 is completely equal as 28.f4?!, planning 29.Rd3, allows 28...Rh1, when 29.Rd3? runs into 29....Rh3+ etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment